Forces of Nature
by Kimaru53
Summary: When old friend's of Minato's comes to take care of Naruto, they will teach him and another how to harness the power of nature itself. What happens when Naruto and Hinata become the youngest people to ever harness Senjustsu chakra? Naru/Hina
1. Chapter 1

So first story i have ever written and i have no idea how people will like it but here we go

Diclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any of its characters

* * *

Hiruzen Sarutobi, the Sandiame hokage of Konoha, was stressed. He thought he was done with this job and the paperwork that came with it when he retired three years ago. Though that was before the events that occurred on october tenth, the night Kyuubi was set free and attacked the village.

The events that caused the death of his successor.

He sighed in the cold night air as he thought about his current cause of stress, the orphanage. Well more accurately the people tending the orphanage, they refused to watch after a child and had kicked him out, at age three no less. He would have to find the child an apartment he supposed, his godfather was providing enough money for that. The child in question was one Uzumaki Naruto, and the reason the orphanage did not wish to watch him was that he was the jinchuriki of the Kyuubi, as his mother was before him.

Sarutobi sighed again as he arrived at the hidden cave, and immediately felt another presence, sliding a kunai from his sleeve he soundlessly made his way closer to his destination, the hokage burial grounds.

"No need to be on guard Sarutobi-sama" A female voice called out which made the old man relax as he walked inside

"I'm surprised to see you here Kimaru-san" The woman, now identified as Kimaru, looked back at him smiling slightly she was wearing a blue hitatare.(think inuyasha's top) She also had long white hair reaching her shoulders and blue eyes holding wisdom well beyond the age she appeared to be

"They were my friends you know" she says turning back to the grave and frowning "I wish i was there to help them fight"

"I heard they sent for you to come but you were not at the shrine"

"I was away with other matters sadly" The older man nodded in response looking around at the flowers growing in the cave

"I'm surprised you're alone" Sarutobi says after a bit of a silence

"I'm not" she says chuckling "Myrei is in the city running around right now. Probably getting drunk as well"

After the brief conversation the two remained in silence for a while

"I should be leaving" The she say "I need to get ready to head back out in the morning not to mention find Myrei"

"Cant stay for a few days?" He asks to which she shakes her head

"No I just came to give my respects to the fallen" she turns to leave "oh, their child, did they survive?"

"Yes the fox was sealed into him"

"Oh? I should go say hi. He know who his parents are?"

"No they had too many enemies to risk that leaking till he is older"

She nods "fair enough. Where is he living"

"At the moment, nowhere"

"Nowhere?" She says sounding angry

"The people attending the orphanage didn't want to keep watching him. I'll be finding an apartment, his godfather is providing more than enough money to pay for it and any essentials he needs"

"Jiraiya's books sell that well?"

"He could retire as a ninja if he wanted but i would have a problem if he did. I'll take you to where you can normally find Naruto" Sarutobi says turning around and heading out of the cave.

* * *

The boy in question was currently running as fast as his young legs could carry him. It was October tenth, his birthday and the anniversary of the Kyuubi's attack and subsequent defeat. All he wanted was to go get a bowl of his favorite ramen from the stand he found and now he had an angry mob chasing him for reasons he didn't understand.

"Get him!"

"Don't let him escape!"

The people ran and yelled trying to catch the small boy, and while he wasn't as fast as the pursuing people, he was small and able to fit through spaces they could not like a broken fence. Taking a left down the street to run into an alleyway he soon cried out in pain as a knife hit his leg and he fell before he could get out the other side of his shortcut.

Turning around they terrified child looked back to see the group grinning madly walking up to him with various weapons. It was obvious they were going to try and kill him and he really had no clue as to why.

"Leave me alone!" The child yells throwing a rock at the men

"Hey he attacked me, this is all in self defense now" The men laughed at the obvious joke as the leader moved forward and started running to stab the child, until his face met a foot and sent him flying back into the other men

"So five men attacking a harmless child?" A woman's voice asked as her read cloak settled around her. She was wearing a light black tunic underneath with a skirt to about her knees. She was holding a small box and using her other hand to put one of the sticks from it into her mouth.

"That thing is not harmless!" One of the men yelled and the woman looked behind her at the crying child

"Looks harmless to me" she says the stick of pocky still in her mouth "Well either way leave"

"No way! I'll avenge my brother that was killed by that monster!" The man yelled before charging at the woman with a crude club

The woman just smirked and rushed forward delivering a strong punch to the untrained mans gut which produced a sickening crack telling all nearby there was at least a broken rib involved in that display. She then grabbed the man by the head and threw him back out of the alleyway "anyone else?" She asks and they all decide that they would get their revenge another day and leave, fast.

Pouting and turning back to the boy "They could have let me have more fun with that fight" she says walking back towards Naruto, who couldn't tell whether he should be afraid of this person or not. She crouches down and offer the open end of the box to him "Pocky?"

He hesitantly grabs a stick "Ummm who are you?"

"Names Myrei" she responds "so why were they chasing you?"

"I don't know" he says sadly "I just wanted to grab a bowl of ramen on my birthday"

"Shitty birthday" she says

"Myrei that's not the kind of language to use with a child nearby"

"Huh? Oh, hey Kima was wondering when i would find you"

"I found you from the screaming men!"

"Yea i made them scream and then here you are my plan worked fine" she grins at the other girl who just sighs in response

"Oji-san" Naruto yells when he see's the hokage

"Naruto are you alright?" He asks looking at the child's wounded ankle

Naruto nods and points to Myrei "yea she scared off the men who were chasing me"

"I see" he says as he looks at the two talking women

"Sarutobi-san, me and Myrei have come to a decision. We are taking him back with us"

"What?" The aged hokage asks in response

"I don't want to leave!" Naruto protests "You can't make me!"

"We will train you to be strong so you can protect yourself"

"Why can't we do that in the village?"

"Because its too dangerous with people after you like this. Besides you will only be gone for a few years, once you're strong enough"

"So when will i be back?"

"Do you want to be a ninja?" Kimaru asks to which the boy nods "then you will come back in time to start lessons at the academy. So in five years"

"You should go Naruto" The hokage says "While not technically ninja these two are strong and they can teach you a lot"

He thinks for a bit before agreeing "okay if you think i should"

"I do Naruto"

"Alright let's get your stuff and get going then" Myrei says still snacking on her pocky

Naruto nods and runs over to Sarutobi hugging him "I'll be back stronger"

"I know you will" The man smiles before Myrei picks up the child "Keep him safe"

"Of course we will" she grins before the two of them start running at speeds some ninja would have trouble following. The hokage could only watch with sadness as he knew this would be the best thing that could happen, but he was going to miss that boy

"Oh well he'll be back in a few years. I'll write to him, guess I won't need that apartment now" he says pulling out his pipe as he lights it up and heads home


	2. Chapter 2

Well i got a surprisingly positive response to my first chapter which was not expected, so here have more, i guess...

Disclaimer: I do not own naruto nor any of its characters. I also do not own the idea behind the Shinmei-Ryu.

* * *

Naruto looked around as the tree of them arrived after a several hour trip to the north. He had just awoken from the rather sudden stop Myrei had made. They were at what appeared to be the entrance to a shrine. Myrei rings a bell and then proceeds to wait until a small dog shows up and she then follows it.

"Why are we following a dog?" The sleepy Naruto asks

"Oh awake are ya?" Myrei asks looking at him "And as to why, its because he know how to get us to our house. These are the woods of the lost, if you are not invited in you will never find your way through to the shrine of fate"

"Shrine of fate?"

"Yup Kima-chan attends to it so we live nearby in a cabin"

Naruto looks around the woods as they walk through, the autumn colors in the moonlight gave the area an eerie red glow. After a short walk through the woods they arrive at a set of torii gates and behind is a stone courtyard with a wooden shrine. The shrine looks large enough for a few people to enter with a deck of sorts leading up and around the whole thing.

The courtyard has a single large tree in the middle and is surrounded by a garden around the edges. A small pond with a waterfall could be seen on the left. The stones on the ground look to be a perfectly flat surface with surprisingly few cracks along them. Myrei heads over to the right side and towards a two story cabin off to the side.

Naruto doses off again as Myrei heads into the house a puts the boy into a bed before leaving "how did you make a room with a bed in just a few hours?"

"I work fast?" She says in response "now come on lets go to bed" she says heading into the only other room in the cabin

"Yea yea" she say starting to take her clothes off as she gets into their shared room "why did you decide to bring the kid?"

"He's the son of Minato"

"No kidding?"

Kimaru nods "well we are going to train him"

"Yea i'll figure something out. Could teach him the shinmei-ryu"

"That a good idea?" She asks tiredly

"Maybe he's the right age to start learning" Myrei says looking over at her partner to see her asleep. Smiling she closes her eyes to drift off to sleep as well.

* * *

Naruto sits up after he wakes in the morning looking around confused at the room he is in before remembering the events of the day. Getting out of bed he makes his way to the kitchen where he smells food cooking. He makes his way out to see Kimaru cooking breakfast and Myrei outside with a pair of hand axes practicing.

"Whats she doing?" He asks the woman cooking

"She practicing her swordsmanship. She's a master of the Shinmei-ryu but even she needs to make sure to keep up on her basics"

"Swordsmanship? Those are axes"

Kima laughs "true, her style is originally based around swords but she adopted it to fit her way"

"I think a sword is better" Naruto says

"Oh why is that?"

"Because its longer" he states as though its the most obvious thing in the world

"Oh, then wouldnt a spear be better? It has a longer reach"

"But a swords cooler!" Naruto says and Kimaru laughs as she sets a plate of bacon and eggs out for him to eat. Naruto digs in as Myrei comes inside

"So the kid wants to learn how to use a sword?" Naruto nods rather vigorously with his mouth full "good then we start right after breakfast"

"YESH!" Naruto cries out with food in his mouth only to get hit on the head by Kimaru's hand

"No talking with your mouth full" rubbing his head Naruto nods. He then proceeds to wolf down the rest of the food and run outside to find Myrei, who walks over with a bokken and hands it to him

"Thats your training sword, now lets start with the basics"

For the whole day Myrei continued to show Naruto the basics of using a sword until he was too exhausted to continue, however it seemed that he would only be down for a half hour at most before being ready to keep going.

Kima watched the whole day with interest and made a schedule of sorts for Naruto's training, showing it to the two of them at dinner.

"Why am i doing nothing on sunday's?"

"Because it is just as important to rest as it is to train, especially at your young age"

Naruto looks annoyed "But i want to!"

"Kima-chans right kid. Besides we will need that day to do our own stuff"

"Fine" he mutters

"Dont worry Naruto-kun" Kima says " by the time you head back to Konoha you will be a force to be reckoned with" The young boy smiles at that

The weeks continued following Kimaru's training schedule, leaving one day a week to rest. The weeks soon turned into a month and snow started to fall around the shrine, but oddly enough there never seemed to be anyone coming to visit the shrine. Beside the sword Naruto was also starting to learn the basics of chakra control, which he sucked at, trap making and the basic's of thrown weapons such as shuriken.

Kimaru had also taken time recently to make a letter to the hokage to inform the man of Naruto's progress and was expecting a reply before too long. Naruto's progress was about what she expected from the child, which was a bit faster than a normal child would, but when she considered who his parents were it was no surprise he dedicated himself so much to improving.

Kima frowned as she looked over the orb in the shrine as it glowed a light blue. It was a sign that something was going to happen, last time it glowed was when she decided to visit konoha after seeing an image of the city in the ball. This time however she saw nothing which meant someone or something would be arriving at their home soon. The forest around the shrine normally prevented anyone from coming here uninvited, but if someone did make it to the shrine there was always a reason. That reason normally involved Kimaru or Myrei and while the light blue colour was a good sign, usually signifying something harmless or beneficial, the red tint usually meant danger.

Kima could use this orb to know what kind of events were coming, she could not tell what they were or how to avoid them. Sighing once again she stands up in her miko outfit before splashing some water over the orb and offering a quick prayer. She heads outside, Naruto and Myrei had gone into town for the first time in over a month to stock up on food, and supplies they could not acquire from the wilds.

Deciding to do a bit of practicing herself she grabs a bow and starts to practice her archery with almost near perfect aim. After all if some kind of danger was coming she had best be prepared for it, although Myrei would most likely handle it. She always like a good fight.

* * *

Back in Konoha there was cheering as a man rode down the street smiling and waving. The sandiame was beside him "I'm glad we could reach this understanding"

"Me as well Sandaime-sama" the man says. His head was wrapped in bandages, covering his black hair, and his forehead protector came down to cover his right eye. The protector held the symbol of Kumogakure, the village hidden in the clouds "I'm sorry that raikage-sama could not come in person to sign this treaty"

"Do not worry about it" the elder kage says "this celebration will end and you will be heading out tomorrow correct?"

"That i will" he says as he catches sight of a young girl with white eyes "I wish i could stay longer but the raikage will want to hear the good news"


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer : I dont own Naruto nor its character nor do i own the shinmei-ryu

Shin grinned behind his dark hood as he ran down the wall, grabbing the Hyuuga heiress was easier than expected with some proper planning. Now all he had to do was make it out of fire country, but making it this far was the hard part. He has at least a few hours head start, if all went well, an hour if it went poorly.

The young girl he carried was light and the tranquilizer he had injected into her would guarantee she was out for the trip. Even the weather was on his side with the snowfall coming down it would cover his tracks. yes , everything was going his way for this a straight run to the border of the land of hot water and then through frost into the land of lightning where he would be welcomed back as a hero of his people.

The only thing between him and that border was an old shrine, something he could get passed easily. After all what could a couple shrine attendants do after all?

"198, 199, 200!" A young voice says as he falls to the ground resting his arms. The cool morning air causing his deep breath to mist "why do i have to do this? I think my arms are going to fall off" Naruto complained.

"Because this is the only way to bring up the stamina in your arms and practice the proper form for the sword" Myrei says "well you can finally manage two hundred in one set. Time to bring it up to two-fifty"

Naruto groans "this sucks! When do we get to the cool sword attacks like you showed me?"

"When i think you're ready" Myrei grins "i can start to show you the basics once you come to understand the power of nature itself"

"What does that mean?"

"Kima-chan will explain it when you're ready"

"When will THAT be?"

"When you have better chakra control" Kima calls from where she is meditating by the garden to which the boy groans again.

"Well i think that's enough for before breakfast" Myrei says "I'll start to go cook some food. Naruto go get some water from the well"

"Ehhh? Why me?"

"Because we said so" Naruto grumbles but goes to get water from the nearby well behind the shrine.

"Since when do you cook?" Kima asks

"I don't, you are"

She rolls her eyes and gets up "Fine, fine"

"He's come pretty far in two months hasn't he?"

"He has indeed. Soon we might have to find him a training partner"

"And where are we going to do that exactly?" Myrei asks to which Kimaru just grins, unseen by Myrei.

"We both know one can only grow so much alone"

Naruto starts to come back with the water and puts it down before picking up his wooden sword and making his way inside, with Kimaru following.

"I'll be along shortly, I have something to take care of" Myrei says grabbing her weapons with a smirk on her face before jumping off towards the woods.

"Whats with this forest?" Shin yells in annoyance. He was on perfect schedule until he got to this seemingly endless forest. He looked around again and the checks the sun. It has been about seven hours since he kidnapped the girl and his pursuers had to be closing in now.

Only years of experience as a ninja allowed him to survive another minute as he jumped back to avoid the flying hand axe as it flew past his head and digging deep into the ground below "wow you actually dodged that" He swings his head up to see a woman in a red cloak with a black tunic with short messy dark pink hair, she's tossing a second axe in her hand.

"Who are you?" He demands

"Whatcha got there?" She asks ignoring him "I'll tell you two things i hate, people intruding on our home and kidnappers" in the next instant she launched herself straight at the kumo nin as he again tries to jump back.

Thinking quick, he decides to drop the girl he is carrying and pulls out his kunai as the girl grabs the second axe and starts swinging at him. He tries to parry the attacks, but Myrei's strength forces him back with every swing. Jumping back he throws his kunai and then several shuriken as he starts making hand signs "Raiton:Jibashi!" (Lightning release:Electromagnetic murder) He cries out as lightning gathers around his hand before he launches it right at her and the lighting strikes right through her left shoulder, creating a rather large hole.

He grins thinking that move had won him the fight, however Myrei just gives a crazy grin and swing her axe nearly taking his arm off with the swing "was that all you got?" She asks charging at him again. Holding onto his wounded arm he starts to throw more weapons as the girl swings both axes in a horizontal swing to hit him in half.

Or it would have if he hadn't used the kawarimi and she just chopped up a log. She quickly looks around before jumping over to the girl on the cold ground. She closes her eyes and takes a deep breath as markings spread across her face for a brief second "Hiken:Zankusen" (Air-Cutting Flash) she says as she spins swinging her axe towards the woods as it projects an arc of energy flying through the air.

Shin cries out in severe pain as his wounded right arm is cut off by the attack. Deciding that his life has more value than this he attempts to flee, only to feel a pain bite into his leg. Yelling in pain her goes flying through branches to collide hard with the ground. Looking down he sees an axe now embedded deeply in the back of his leg. He soon sees Myrei calmly walking over to him "Well you lasted longer than my last fight" she grins maniacally not seeming to care about the large wound in her shoulder as she reaches and pulls out a stick of pocky  
"You can't kill me! The raikage will never let that stand. He will hunt you forever!"

"Is he strong?"

"Of course he is!"

"Good" Myrei smirks as she swings her axe down into his head, killing him and making a large mess. She goes over and takes any of the useful supplies from him she walks away "May your body be food so life can continue"

She walks over and picks up the girl before heading towards the cottage "why do i have a feeling Kima knew this would happen"

Hiashi was racing through the trees following the member of the Inuzuka clan that he manages to recruit to chase his daughter and her kidnapper. He recognised the direction they were heading and was hoping that the kidnapper was as well. If he took his Hinata into the forest of the lost there was almost no hope of getting her back.

"HOLD UP" he calls to the members of his small team, they look back at him confused

"We are catching up on them" the Inuzuka says

"We can not carelessly enter this part of the forest" Jumping to the ground he walks over and pulls a rope, ringing a bell.

"What are we doing?" Another man asks

"This part of the forest is watched over by a certain shrine maiden. Trespassing means death no matter who you are" he looks at them with a look saying he is serious. The other members of the team look confused as Hiashi crosses his arms and waits.

After only a few minutes the team can see a woman dressed as a miko approach "Hiashi-san, I expected you. Come, the rest of you will wait here"

"What!?" The team members ask before Hiashi waves them to stand down

"It's fine" he says as he follows Kimaru into the woods

"Your daughter is safe" she says and the man releases a sigh of relief "though she should stay here"

"And why is that?"

"The man who had your daughter was the head ninja of Kumo. That makes things awkward right?" She says looking back to see only a slightly surprised Hiashi "seems you guessed that. You can say officially Hinata is missing, as a result they can't push any demands in return. I can also train her while she is here"

The man seems to think about it "I will agree as long as you train her in the jyuken, Hyuuga Kimaru"

She looks back grinning "please Hiashi-san, it's Miyuki, I haven't gone by that name since i lost the ability to use the byakugan. As for your daughter i will train her the the traditional Hyuuga arts"

He nods "I will talk to her then and explain to her"

She nods "she hasn't woken yet"

"Is she alright?"

Kimaru nods "seems the man just used some tranquilizer to keep her asleep she should wake up soon"

He nods as they arrive at the shrine's courtyard. He starts to head towards the wooden housing as he sees his daughter near the garden "Hinata" he says out to her

"Otou-sama!" The young girl cries out and runs over to him. He bends down to pick her up

"Are you alright Hinata?"

"H-hai tou-sama" she says nodding

"Hinata, you will be staying here with this woman" The clan head says motioning to Kimaru

The young girl looks very upset "Wh-why?"

"For your safety" he says "this could happen again. Kimaru here can keep you safe and train you to become strong"

"How long will i be here?" She asks

"It will be a few years" Kimaru says "but i promise that your parents will come visit"

"Do i have to?" She asks

"I think it's for the best" He says and the little girl nods sadly "You can also write letters to us whenever you wish"

She nods looking like she is about to start crying "Hinata! Do not cry about this" he says more harshly than he intended, before softening his voice "One day you will take over our clan and it is important to keep your emotions in control, understand?"

Hinata once again nods "I will try and be strong tou-sama"

"I know you will be" he says before nodding to Kimaru and heading to leave, before hearing a shrill whistle and a bird lands on Kimaru's arm.

"Here, he will lead you out and deliver a message from her mother" He nods and follows the bird as Hinata cries lightly. Kima walks over to the young girl putting her hand on her head "Come i will show you to your room and training partner"

"H-hai Kimaru-sama!" The young girl cries out

"Kimaru is fine"

"Hai Kimaru-san"

Kima shrugs heading inside. That would do for now.


	4. Chapter 4

Disclaimer : I dont own Naruto nor its character nor do i own the shinmei-ryu

* * *

Kimaru walks into the building with the young Hyuga beside her and walks her to an empty room showing the girl around the house "you will be sleeping here alright?"

She nods and looks around the small room. It has a simple bed and a small dresser with a mirror on top. There is a window with view of the forest and the pair can hear Naruto and Myrei training in those woods.

"Right now let's go say hi to those two" she offers her hands to the young girl and she hesitantly takes it

The two walk out for a short bit to see the two of them lightly sparring with wooden swords. Myrei is wearing a thick cloak over her normal clothes, hiding her wound. Seeing Kima, Myrei swings her swords down and trips the boy "not bad Naru-chan" Myrei teases, much to Naruto's annoyance.

"I almost hit you!"

"Not even close" Myrei laughs walking over to the girl "How are ya?"

Hinata hides behind Kimaru's leg "Don't worry, she is the one who rescued you"

"Th-Thank you very much then" she bows and Myrei grins

"Don't mention it"

"Who are you?" Naruto asks looking over her in her plain black kimono. Her dark blue hair is kept fairly short but it's her eyes that draw the most attention, as they have no pupils.

"Your eyes are weird" Naruto says looking at the girl who then looks down upset at the comment. Naruto gets smacked on the back of the head by Myrei "owww. What was that for?!"

"Thats for being rude"

"What? How?"

"Your hair is weird" Myrei says

"What?" He asks a bit annoyed

"See? You got upset"

"Oh…" He turns back to the girl "ummm sorry i wasn't trying to be rude"

"I-it's okay" the girl mutters

"As for your question about her eyes. They are a clan special ability called the Byakugan. They allow her to see through objects and see huge distances away. They also allow her to see the chakra that flows through your body and, with her special style of taijutsu, allow her to attack people's insides"

"Wow really?" Naruto asks excitedly "Your eyes are awesome. Oh, my name is Naruto. What's yours"

"It's Hin-Hinata" she says

"Yup and from today on you two will be training together"

"Oh so we will learn the same stuff then?"

"Not exactly. There will be things you both learn but not everything. Now to see how good you both are you two will have a quick spar"

"I'm not that good though" Hinata says

"This isn't a contest, just do your best" Kima says in a reassuring manner and the girl nods stepping out and going into a very good jyuken stance for her age. Naruto stands across from her in a much sloppier stance.

Naruto runs at her and throws a rather slow punch, he does not want to hurt a girl after all. Hinata watching him run, much slower than her father, ducks underneath the attack and pushes her palm into his chest. She does not use any chakra as she has not quite got the hang of using it and not wanting to hurt Naruto. The boy stumbles back at the contact.

"Hinata wins" Kimaru says amused

"What?! She just tapped me she didn't hit at all"

"Yup but that tap could have killed you. The jyuken, the taijutsu we talked about a moment ago could have destroyed your heart with that hit"

"Really? Thats scary… Hey it's not fair to lose i didn't know that"

"Well that's how life is Naru-chan" Myrei says "you underestimated her and lost. No one in the world would tell you their abilities before a fight. You have to learn to not let anything happen even if you don't know what your opponent can do"

He nods "okay i get it"

"Don't worry you'll get it eventually" Myrei stands up "alright that's enough rest. Let's continue"

* * *

"Alright Hinata, now since you have such a good grasp on the jyuken already I'm going to show you the weapon you will learn"

"B-but tou-sama said that the Hyuga don't use weapons…"

"Thats where you are wrong" Kima smiles "the Hyuga were at one point the most feared archers in the world. This was before they had time to study and practice applying their sight to create the juken style. Back when the world was divides the Hyuga was a small clan, and they had to fight to preserve themselves and that meant fighting at a range"

Hinata listens to her story with interest, curious about the origins of her clan. Kimaru starts to walk over to a tree "Though the Hyuga did still have incredibly good chakra attacks. Some rumors say they could make arrows of pure chakra. Now this tree is very rare, it's an Ironwood tree, the wood from this tree is flexible yet hard as well iron"

"Umm wh-why are you te-telling me that?"

"Because this is what we will make your bow out of. Ironwood will absorb chakra and continue to grow, essentially it will always be the perfect size for you to wield" Taking her hand she focuses and chops a branch off of the tree "Now it may take a few days to make this into a proper bow, till then i'll teach you the basics"

"H-hai Kimaru-sensei"

Kimaru grabs a smaller bow and starts to show her how it is used. "The power of a bow comes comes from pulling away and the snap of the string back to a straight form sends the arrow flying. Well that's an extremely simplified explanation but it works. In simple the farther you pull back the faster the arrow flies"

The young girl nods and Kima comes over and shows her how to nock an arrow. Hinata tries to shoot and the arrow flies way off course and lands in a tree. Hinata starts to look upset until Kima puts her hand on the girl's head "good first try, we can practice this for the rest of today"

* * *

The training continued much the same as this. Most of the time they practiced their weapon training and it started to be that Kimaru spent most of the time training Hinata and Myrei training Naruto. The strangest thing was that every sunday Kimaru had them training to sit still, and not move at all. Needless to say Naruto despised this and he never understood what the point of this was. It wasn't until about a year into the training that they learned the purpose of it.

"Alright now it's time to show you two what is needed for the next step of your training" Kimaru says to the two kids kneeling in the courtyard" she heads into the shrine coming out with two small orbs, one in each hand. They seemed to glow with power as she walks over and sits in front of them and holds one out to each of them "Now take these and remain still as we practiced"

The two looked at each other before reaching out and grabbing one each and sitting still. Almost instantly the two started to feel sense so much more than they ever imagined. The grass and plants, the birds in the trees, the worms in the dirt and even the ants across the other side yard.

Naruto leaned back the new sensations amazing him and as he did he felt his arms stiffen. Looking down he panicked as it looked like his arms were starting to turn to stone. He screamed in fright which in turn caused Hinata to look over at him and start to experience the same problem. Kima places her hands on the orbs and in an instant the two of them are fine, but the two kids were breathing heavily and looking panicked.

"WHAT WAS THAT?" Naruto demands yelling at Kima

"That was the power of nature. Pure natural energy, it can only be harnessed if you are motionless. The turning to stone is what happens when you can't balance the natural energy with your chakra, if you can do that it produces chakra that is several times more potent, called senjutsu chakra"

"Why did you not warn us?" Hinata asks, having lost her stuttering problem as she had become comfortable with the three people she was living with.

"Because i want you to fear and respect the power you will be learning to use. While senjustu chakra is not necessary it helps to attune yourselves to the elements of nature and that is the next step of your training"

"Wait then we start to learn something besides just swinging a sword?" Naruto asks excitedly

"Yup Naru-chan" Myrei says with a grin "now the training gets fun"

Naruto looked up at the girl hanging in the tree and gulped. He had a distinct feeling this would hurt.

* * *

I dont know how much i like that random time jump but i really wanted to write that scene. I wont be putting in too much of the training as i want to keep it secret, but mostly because i have no idea how to make it interesting...


	5. Chapter 5

The remaining four years passed fairly normally, the kids practiced with their weapons and taijutsu. However they could not be taught ninjutsu as neither Kima nor Myrei knew them. The pair of kids had grown much closer as they were the only ones their age they had to talk to.

The two had also grown considerably in the time since they had been there, with Hinata growing her hair out to shoulder length. Naruto had also discovered an odd love for the colour orange, having taken to wearing clothing similar to Kimaru's in that colour. However instead of a skirt he wore hakama pants with it, he still has his wooden sword which he keeps on him at almost all times.

Hinata's attire changed drastically as well, wearing a one piece tunic with a skirt that went just passed her knees, and she wore tights underneath. The tunic was also short sleeved only coming to the middle of her upper arms and on her left wrist she has a tight bracelet and a bracer that covers her forearm from a bow string scraping her. She also wore a second bracelet on her right wrist and she oddly, to anyone who knew her weapon, had no quiver for arrows. She wears a light cloak with a hood, latched by her neck and easy to drop if needed. The whole outfit in her normal white colour.

The two had spent years learning their fighting styles, while they could not be called masters they were very strong in them. They had also practiced fighting together as Hinata's archery perfectly covered Naruto's swordsmanship. They learned how to communicate their intentions with few words as to not give away their intentions to potential enemies.

It was also about a year ago that Hinata had learned she had a bit of a crush on her blonde companion. Not that she had been able to tell him as much yet, despite the insistence from her teachers. She had also started to learn the harp, a recommendation from Kimaru, who said it would help her dexterity for using her bow.

"So you all packed Koneko-chan?" Myrei asks her partner

"What do you mean?" she asks ignoring the nickname.

"I mean that are you ready to move into Konoha, you have no intention of staying here when they leave do you?"

"You know why i can't leave"

"Please" Myrei says "you have been able to move your crystal for a few years now. Fuse with it and drop it in a house in Konoha, hide your change with a traveling cloak"

"Fine, fine" she agrees "we will follow the kids home. We can make a living as shinobi even if we don't know ninjutsu. I guess"

Myrei grins and says "Good i already packed your stuff"

"Of course you did" Kimaru replies "alright i'm off to bed then"

* * *

The next morning Naruto and Hinata stood side by side looking over the small shrine preparing to leave and return home. It was odd, while both considered Konoha to be home they had spent a majority of their lives here and they were sad to be leaving.

"Alright you two ready to go?" Myrei says loudly as she makes her way out from the house, a large pack over her shoulders, causing to two to look confused.

"Sensei, I thought you weren't coming with us?" Naruto asks, as that is what the two had told them.

"We had a change of plans" she says "Couldn't leave our two students when we have so much left to teach"

"Where's Kima-nee-chan?" Naruto asks, it was a nickname that he had called a few years back her and she never seemed to mind so it stuck around.

Myrei points her head towards the shrine "getting ready"

Kima comes out a moment later covered with a heavy cloak that hides all her features. Both Hinata and Naruto could sense a power coming from her and they could not tell exactly what was different. The two had always known she was very skilled but this is the first time she emitted a power like this.

"Is everyone prepared?" She asks and the two kids nod, while Myrei smiles at them. The fact that they could even tell something was different shows the improvements they had made in their own senin training. The two could gather and hold a small amount of the chakra but they could not really use it in combat yet.

"Well let's go kids" Myrei says as they head out.

* * *

It took just over a day to see the gates of the village, and Hinata looks sadly at the giant doors. This was the second time since the start of their training. The last time was when she learned that she would have a younger sibling born.

Unfortunately the visit did not end well with her mother passing away from an illness after giving birth to Hinata's sister, Hanabi. The young girl had been depressed and it had taken weeks and it took every weapon in Naruto's arsenal to get her smiling again. The incident had only driven the girl more once her bought of depression overcome.

Naruto steps over and grabs her hand in a comforting gesture "you okay?"

She nods and smiles, blushing at him holding her hand, even knowing there was no romantic feelings involved "i'll be okay Naruto-kun"

They walk towards the gates and the guards look up and go to ask who they are but Myrei hands them a scroll sealed by the hokage. Taking and looking at it the guard soon waves them through and the four head into the village.

The four headed through the village, towards the tower just below the mountain. They had to meet the hokage and report the results of the training. They approached to tower entrance and headed up towards the office and Myrei barges right in. "heeeeey" she calls

The hokage looks up and then smiles at the happy surprise "It's good to see you again" He says to the group.

"Jii-san!" Naruto yells running over and hugging the elderly man.

"It's been a long time since i have seen you Naruto. You have gotten bigger"

"I have also got a ton stronger!" He says excitedly

"I know you have" He says "Now why don't you and Hinata head outside, I need to talk to your sensei's"

He nods and grabs the young girl's hand again and takes her out of the room.

"So how strong are they?" The hokage asks

"More than a match for any gennin" Kima says confidently "also did Jiraiya's funds continue?"

The hokage nods "yes they did. Why?"

"We need a house in the village, one we can fit with Naruto"

"So he made you decide to stay did he?"

Kimaru shrugs "it's just a choice we made"

"I have a place available" the man says

"I need to move in now" Kimaru says leaving no room for argument

He nods and says "I will prepare the keys with my secretary"

"And we also need to apply as ninja" That got the hokage's full attention.

"I thought you didn't want to do so?"

"Things change" Kima shrugs

"Alright, now there is a policy for letting people from outside the village join the ninja ranks. It's a few month probationary period, once it's over we can apply you both for jounin rank"

The two women nod "alright fine"

"Now i won't keep you. Go get settled in your new house" the hokage says writing a quick note "please hand this to the secretary for the keys"

Myre grabs the note before heading out of the room "Thanks"

Kimaru follows as Myrei grabs the keys before heading to the house with the two children. Before long the group arrives at a small house, two story house. Kima rushes into the house and right to the basement.

"Is she okay?" Naruto asks Myrei who chuckles

"Yea shes fine. Don't go downstairs" She says looking through the house. It had two bedrooms along with what looked like a small study with several books already there. Looking into the yard she can see a decent sized one, enough room for her and Naruto to train at least.

Looking back she see's Kima coming up from the basement with her cloak off. Looking around smiling at the house "we need to go shopping and get food. Well before that we should take Hinata-chan home for a visit"

Looking up at her Hinata nods a bit nervously "H-hai"

That causes Kimaru to look at her, she has not had a stuttering problem for a couple years now at least. Placing a hand on the girl's head "it'll be fine" Kima says in a reassuring way "let's go say hi to your family Hinata-chan"

She nods and the two of them head out "Myrei, Naruto stay here, go get us some groceries, I'll take Hinata home"


	6. Chapter 6

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or the shinmei-ryu sword style

* * *

The pair arrive at the large Hyuuga complex. The complex had a high stone wall surrounding it with a wooden double door guarded by two members of the branch family. The guards looked at the approaching pair "You are approaching the home of the honorable Hyuuga clan, state your intention"

"I have come with Hyuuga Hinata returning from training. I have come to speak with Hiashi"

"Lord Hiashi is away from the village on a diplomatic mission right now. We will inform the council of the heiress' return"

Kimaru and Hinata follow the man into a waiting room. They were waiting for around half an hour. "Why is this taking so long?" The normally patient Kimaru says.

"I don't know" Hinata says nervously looking around, poking her fingers together. A habit she had not done in a few years.

Before Kimaru could say anything the door opened and a member of the branch family steps in saying "The council is ready to see you. I will take you to them"

He started walking away before they could protest and headed down the halls. A short walk later and he opened the door to a large sparring hall, with many members of the clan around the outside. Kima looks around and walks across the hall "what is going on here?" she demands from the elders.

Said elders do not look pleased "This is a test to see if Hinata is worthy as an heir to the Hyuuga main house"

"And what is this test?"

"A spar with one of our best" they state simply.

"A spar? Fine then i assume the jyuken only?"

"Of course" He says motioning to a teenager who steps forward, he was obviously a few years older than Hinata. He had short black hair that was spiky at the back, he wore a white vest with the Hyuga crest on the back with standard shinobi blue pants and sandals, he also wore fingerless gloves with metal plates on the back. "This is Hyuga Koga, he will be your opponent lady Hinata"

Hinata takes a deep breath stepping forward and unlatches her cloak tossing it to Kima as she gets ready. Both set into the jyuken stance and preparing for the fight to start. A referee steps forward "Hajme!" he yells as Koga rushes forward.

Hinata waits for him and starts to parry his attacks, looking surprised as his hands unleashed the blue bursts of chakra, signifying that he was intending to cause actual harm.

"I thought this was just a spar!" Kimaru yells, once again making the elders annoyed at her.

"This is a test if she can't fight against an opponent of this level she can't be heir of the Hyuga"

Kimaru growls but Hinata says "I'll be fine sensei" she says and Kimaru sits back down watching.

The two dueling Hyuga start throwing strikes back and forth at each other, neither seeming to get an advantage. Hinata takes a step forward slightly overextending, however it was an intentional feint, causing Koga to go into a strong right hand palm strike. Hinata pushes with her left hand parrying and spinning her whole body around and landing two solid palm strikes on his side. Continuing to spin her body and throw another pair of powerful strikes against his back one palm on his heart and one on his liver, two vital organs, two guaranteed kill strikes.

Although Hinata put no chakra into the strikes her physical might sent Koga falling back on hiss ass. Hinata sighs out as she bows to her opponent before, looking back at Kimaru smiling. Smiling back at her unofficial apprentice Kimaru nods approvingly. Hinata and Kimaru both noticed Koga stand up again.

Neither thought much of it, both being used to spars ending when a strike like that was landed, until he ran at Hinata striking her back with a jyuken strike. Her eyes went wide as she coughed up a bit of blood. In an instant Kimaru had slammed her fist into Koga's chest laying him flat out on the ground.

"The hell is that?" Kima demands "The spar was over!"

"Koga was still able to fight so the duel continued. Hinata lost because you interfered and so as per the conditions she will be sealed and sent to the branch family" One of the elders says with a very overconfident smirk.

It was easy to see what they were thinking. They were not happy that the heiress was not trained in the clan and were attempting to remove her power as heir. Kimaru also suspected that Hiashi's own attempts at changing the usage of the caged bird seal was involved.

"Now hand over Hinata"

"Over my dead body" Kimaru says sounding angry "She is under my protection and you will not lay a single hand on her"

"Then we will do so by force" The elder says motioning for several branch family members to restrain Kimaru and Hinata.

Closing her eyes for a few seconds, when she re-opens them she also has large red triangles marks on the top and bottom of her face surrounding both her eyes. Stepping forward she slams her foot down cracking the solid wood flooring around her. Holding her hand out she forms a blue ball "Seirei tama" ( **Spirit ball** )

She throws the orb out it impacts the first Hyuuga and he gets sent flying back. Swinging her arm the orb flies straight at the second who attempts to duck under the attack but it sharply drops down smashing into the back of his head, knocking him into the ground and unconscious. The third and final branch member tries to run at her and she grabs his arm and pulling it down before throwing her own palm strike to his chin.

The first opponent shakily stands up before running at her Kima snaps her leg back into his stomach before bringing that same leg around and bringing a strong kick down on his head knocking him out as well.

"Anyone else?"

"You dare attack us in our own house?" The same elder yells in anger "We will have you executed for this insult!"

Her orb flies right at his face stopping right in front of him "Until Hiashi returns and we discuss this" she walks over and pick up the young girl.

"I will talk to the hokage about this"

"I don't care, I carry much more value to this village than you" Snapping her fingers her technique dissipates, however no one seems to want to try and stop the woman as she leaves. "Well that was an unmitigated disaster. Are you okay Hinata-chan?"

"Hai Kimaru-sensei" she says sounding upset "Why did they try and do that?"

"They clearly are not happy that i trained you and not the members of the main house"

"But you know the Jyuken perfectly" Hinata says

"Yup, but only you and your father know of that" The rest of the walk back to the house is quiet

The pair walks in and sees Naruto and Myrei packing away some groceries. Waving Myrei calls "Hey koneko-chan! How did it go?" Kima simply growls in response. "Not good okay then"

"You okay Hina-chan?"

"H-hai Naruto-kun" Hinata said blushing at the nickname. Looking over at the still annoyed Kimaru, she decided that she would at least start cooking dinner today.

Looking around at all the items bought the young girl starts grabbing and cutting some vegetables and chicken. Grabbing a pot and starting to boil some water for the noodles starting to make ramen for them, something she knew Naruto loved.

"I'm going to go clean up" Kima said suddenly as she headed downstairs back into the basement.

"Okay koneko-chan"

"I don't think she likes that nickname" Naruto says

"Meh, I been using it for years aint stopping now" She replies before taking her axes and heading into the yard.

"Sooo, Hina what happened at your house?" he asks her

She starts to recount the events of her visit to her house as she continues to cook their food.

"Those guys were jerks, no offence" he says after the story was finished.

"It's okay Naruto-kun" she says before setting a bowl of the just finished ramen "here"

"Wow looks great!" He says before excitedly digging in.

Hinata could not help but laugh a bit at his excitement at eating her food. She may not have had a good time visiting her home, but she knew she could always come and see Naruto if she needed to feel better.

* * *

A.N.

So now we have seen Kimaru in action along with Myrei a few chapters ago.

So I have got a lot of people asking to make sure i keep writing and i want to assure you I have no intention of stopping. I did kind of jump into the story without a giant plan for it so im working as I go as well.

I have also decided on a solid upload schedule i will be updating on Mondays probably around 8 or 9


	7. Chapter 7

Disclaimer : I do not own Naruto or the Shinmeiryu

* * *

Hiashi sipped his tea he waited for his two guests to arrive. He was not having a great day. He had finally arrived home after his visit to the tea country, where he got this wonderful tea. The trouble was that as him and his youngest were on their way home, the cart had broken slowing his return by a day, and when he did arrive home it was not the relaxing time he wanted.

Almost immediately after arriving at his come he was approached by the elders claiming that they were attacked by Hinata's teacher. He may not have met Kimaru for long periods but from what he did know of her she would not just attack the clan for no reason.

So here he sat waiting for her and Hinata to arrive. Thankfully he did not end up waiting long as he just received word that the pair had arrived and were being shown to him. The two were soon shown to his private meeting room.

"Tou-sama" Hinata says politely, bowing slightly before she sat down.

"Hiashi-san" Kimaru said clearly still annoyed about her last visit just over two days ago.

Pouring another two cups of tea he offers one to the two ladies "I heard from my elders that you came and attacked my clan members. I also assume that there is more to the story i would like to hear your side of the events that transpired"

"You mean where the elders tried to push your daughter into the branch family while you were away?"

"Excuse me?" Hiashi the man asks looking unsure he heard correctly.

""You heard me" she takes a sip of her tea "ooh that's good. Yes as i was saying when we arrived trying to meet you the other day, we were first asked to wait for around a half hour before we were escorted to the dojo. Once there we were told that there was a test for Hinata to see if she was worthy to become heir. So she spared with a man named Koga, and should have won if it was called as it should after Hinata landed a lethal strike but they didn't as she avoided using chakra to not hurt him"

"I see and where do you step into this?"

"Well Koga attacked Hinata after the spar, since they didn't call the match, and once he hit her i got angry and laid him out. After that they called Koga the winner and tried to have the members apprehend her to seal her. I defended her and left. Yes i did knock out three members of your clan, no i did not attack without reason"

Hiashi sighs "I will take care of the elders. I thank you for watching her"

"She is my student, of course i will"

"And how much have you learned from her Hinata?" He asks his daughter

"I have memorized all the moves of the jyuken and can use most of them. I have trouble with the Kaiten ( **rotation** ) and the Hakke kusho" ( **Eight Trigrams Vacuum Palm)**

"Impressive" He replies "you can do the Rokujyuuyonshou?" ( **sixty-four palm** )

"She can but can't" Kimaru chips in.

"Please tell me how that makes sense"

"She has the ability and accuracy to perform it but her eyes can't see the tenketsu yet"

"Makes sense, most Byakugan do not develop that level of sight until early teenage years"

"So what do we do now?" Kimaru asks

"What do you mean?" Hiashi asks in response

"Well is it safe to leave Hinata here? Clearly the elders don't like her as the heir"

"That is true, perhaps it is best if she remains in your house for the moment"

"If Hinata is fine with that i have no issues and i'm certain that the other two won't mind either"

"I don't mind" she says, secretly excited to be able to live with Naruto a bit longer.

Hiashi nods "Then our business is concluded"

"Pleasure speaking to you Hiashi-san" Kima smiles looking happier than when she entered the house. The two stand and give a polite bow before leaving and heading off to their own house.

They passed the guards with no issues and started to walk back "sooo glad to be staying around Naruto more?"

"W-what? I-I have n-no idea what you mean" Hinata says embarrassed and blushing a red that puts any tomato to shame.

"Nothing to feel bad about" Kima laughs

Poking her fingers together she doesn't say anything. Smiling at the younger girl she takes a turn and Hinata follows without thinking before Kima turns into a bakery. Hinata follows her in and looks around at the delicious treats.

"See anything you want?" Kimaru asks her as she looks around picking up a few cupcakes for home. Hinata does not say anything but her view is drawn to the icing covered cinnamon buns. Smiling Kima has the cashier grab her a few of those as well before paying "Come on this can be dessert after dinner"

Hinata nods as she follows her back home. As they arrive they can hear the clear sound of Naruto and Myrei clashing in the backyard with their wooden swords. Hinata looks towards the noise frowning slightly.

"Whats wrong now hinata-chan?" Kima asks

"Shouldn't i be training?"

"It's fine to take a day off from time to time" Kima says "In fact i thinks it's a very good thing to take days off. Gives the body and muscles a chance to relax and heal. Or if you still want to train and relax, practice gathering your senjutsu chakra faster. If you can't stand still gather it in small bursts through a fight"

The young girl nods and decides to go meditate. Kimaru smiled, it was only a few months till the academy for the two of them and they would learn history and the like there. Hopefully naruto would not go nuts from the lack of sword training. She chuckled and started dinner, she was looking forward to their progress.

The rest of the summer passed with the two kids progressing their training nicely. They now stood by the entrance of the academy grounds, Myrei and Kimaru stood by them. Hiashi unfortunately was unable to bring Hinata so Myrei and Kima did. They had just finished hearing the speech from the teacher welcoming the new and returning students.

"You both have your bento? Oh and remembered your kunai?" Kima asked looking over the two like a worried mother.

Rolling his eyes Naruto responds "Yea of course we did Kima-nee-chan"

"Alright fine go to class" she says and the two kids run off "Don't say it Myrei"

"Awww the Koneko-chan is worried about her litter" Myrei laughs only to get smacked upside the head and onto the ground by her friend. Myrei just keeps laughing picking herself up. "Well i'm going to go see if there's a mission i can do for some cash, you can stay at home with the kiddies"

Kima nods as Myrei heads off to the tower grinning, those kids would be fine.

Naruto walked into his classroom, his closest friend beside him. Looking around he saw a lot of kids already seated and he started to make his way towards the back looking around at all the kids. There was a surprising variety in this classroom, not that he could tell who was part of the clans.

Sitting down he waited for the class to start, unfortunately it would not be quite as exciting of a class as he expected. It was around halfway through that he put his head in his arms and before the day ended he had started sleeping.

Suffice to say his new Sensei was not exactly pleased "UZUMAKI NARUTO!" Iruka yelled as he threw a piece of chalk with extreme speed and precision as it hit his head knocking him off his chair.

"Whaaaa" Was Naruto's great response as he fell ungracefully to the floor.

"Uzumaki-san can you please continue reading from where we ended?"

"Ummmm sure" he says looking at his book quickly noticing that it was marked where they were. Smiling quickly to Hinata he continues to read about the fight at the valley of the end. Once he read a bit Iruka nodded and continued "thanks Hina-chan" Naruto whispers

"Your welcome Naruto-kun" she replies as the lesson continues.

"Iruka-sensei, why are we learning about the hokage, aren't we supposed to be learning to be kickass ninja?" a boy, Kiba Inuzuka, asks.

"Yes, in time. Right now we are learning about the history of our village. For as has been said 'those who forget the past are destined to repeat it'. Which means it's important to learn from the mistakes of others. We will start tomorrow with some chakra control exercises and check on your taijutsu."

The kids, mostly, understand and let Iruka finish his lesson before the day ends.

As the day ends the kids rush to go meet their parents. Naruto watches briefly a little jealous as he never knew his own, but it faded fast as he saw his 'sister' there waiting. He may not know his parents, but he definitely was not alone.


	8. Chapter 8

So some people wanted longer chapters, so here you are. This one has no fighting but i promise the next one will.

Disclaimer : I do not own Naruto or the Shinmei-ryu

* * *

"Finally it's here!" was the excited yell from the now twelve year old boy. The reason for his great excitement today was that it was his birthday, and he had been allowed to have a party in their house, and luckily that his birthday landed on the weekend too.

Jumping up he starts to run downstairs smelling something amazingly sweet. Getting to the kitchen he smile widely as he sees Hinata making breakfast in an apron. Her back was to him and she was taking some cinnamon buns from the oven. He had learned that she seemed to love those buns as much as he loved ramen.

He grins and walks behind her before blowing on her neck, causing her to jump with a loud squeak. Before she could fall he caught her and look down at the girl in his arms grinning down at her "Hey Hime"

She could not help but blush immensely at the object of her affections. She had decided to come make breakfast for the small family. She had been allowed to spend the night here because of Naruto's birthday. "Happy birthday Naruto-kun" she says smiling.

"Putting the moves on the girl this early, eh Naru-chan?" Myrei says laughing at the two of them rushing to separate. One of them had to confess soon, right?

"What are you doing sensei?" Naruto says annoyed.

"Getting your gift ready" she says smirking.

"When do i get it?" Naruto asks excited.

"Later with the rest of them"

Pouting Naruto, knowing that he was not going to get any more information out of her, decided to sit down and wait for Hinata's delicious meal. Only a few minutes later she soon has a plate of bacon and eggs set out for him as well as Myrei, Kima, and herself. After making a stack of pancakes as well she sits beside Naruto and Kimaru comes in in a light bath robe.

"So happy birthday Naruto-kun"

"Thanks Kima-nee-chan" he says happily.

"So we need to get ready for a party then" Kima says "I have a gift prepared for you and i know you will like Myrei's"

"Really? Can't wait!"

"I have something for you as well Naruto-kun" Hinata says quietly while she is blushing.

Naruto smiled "You didn't need to get me anything Hina-hime"

"I want to though" she says smiling.

"Well if you insist" he replies and Kimaru smiles while watching them. They were so cute together.

Finishing her food while the two kids were still distracted by each other, Kima leaves "alright i'm going to go get some supplies. You two please clean up"

"HAI" they both call back to her.

* * *

Naruto was bouncing around waiting for his classmates to arrive. He was friends with most of them, if not all. He had, at Kima's request, invited his whole class but he guessed most would not show up. They seemed to not like him much.

It had sadly not taken too long for the members of the village to realize Naruto was back and who he was. That had led to most of the parents of the kids in the academy being told to keep away from him. Most of the kids from the ninja clans did not seem to care, but that was only a small group of the thirty kids in class.

It was not much longer when there was a knock on the door, rushing over to answer it he was happy to see some of his friends there. Nara Shikamaru and Akimichi Chouji were the first two to arrive "Hey guys! Glad you could come" Naruto said excitedly

"Hey" Shikamaru waves in a very bored way as he walks in

"Where's the food?" Chouji asks looking around.

"There's some out to eat in the living room, but try not to eat it all buddy" He says

"Oh, Shikamaru-kun, Chouji-kun welcome" Hinata says smiling to them as she walks into the room in a light lavender dress. The two boys acknowledge her greeting as the doorbell rings and as it's opened again to reveal two other girls.

One wearing a red dress with tight black shorts underneath, she also had shoulder length pink hair. The other wearing a purple dress with white bandages around her waist. She also had long blonde hair in a high ponytail.

"Hey Naruto" Ino says walking in and waving at Hinata, with Sakura following behind. The two quickly made their way over to Hinata, having gotten to know her pretty well as she seemed to be the only girl in class not wanting to date Sasuke.

It had also not taken them too long to pry out that she had a crush on Naruto and had kept trying to get her to confess, with no success as of yet.

"So are you going to do it tonight Hinata-chan?" Ino asks once they had gotten the girl off to the side. Hinata blushed but nodded.

"After everyone leaves tonight" she says quietly.

"You have got to tell us what he says tomorrow" Sakura says

"He better accept, he is lucky to have such a good girl wanting to go out with him"

"We should get back to the others" Hinata said, trying to get the conversation to end. Thankfully the two girls agree and they head back into the living room. While they were talking the remaining guests arrived. The only other two were Aburame shino and Inuzuka Kiba. Looking around you could see future leaders of the clans of Konoha, but for the minute they were laughing and playing games like the group of kids they were.

After a minute the lights went out and Kimaru came in carrying a cake and starting to sing happy birthday. The rest of the guests join in and the cake is set on the table with twelve candles for Naruto to blow out. Taking a deep breath he did just that.

"Alright time for some presents" Kiba calls out loudly.

"YEA!" Naruto calls out in loud agreement before heading over to the decently sized pile of presents.

Laughing as she watches her younger brother start tearing into the presents. Books on chakra control and basic ninjutsu, coupons for ramen, some extra kunai and shuriken as they tended to break and need replacing often. He had gone through all the presents before realizing he did not get one from Hinata, Kimaru or Myrei.

"Here" He heard Myrei's voice behind him holding a long box. His eyes widened as his mind raced before grabbing the box and tearing it open. Inside the box was a sheathed katana "Happy birthday Naru-chan"

Naruto slowly picked up the weapon and drew it looking over the smooth metal, it was clearly a very well made blade and everyone looked at it with a bit of awe. For Naruto this held a great meaning as he remembered back to when he was training at the shirine.

" _When can i get my own metal blade?" He asked looking at his instructor._

" _When i give you one"_

"Why do i have to wait though?"

"Because when i give you one it will mean i think you have mastered the Shinmei-ryu enough for you to actually use it in combat. So you can think of it as a graduation present when you stop being an apprentice"

Looking at Myrei with wide questioning eyes she simply nods and he grins placing the blade back in its sheath and setting it carefully to the side. "Thank you Myrei-shishou" he bows to her and she does the same in return.

"Hey can i give that a try?" Kiba asks

"No" He replied "That's my sword and it's not a toy to just pass around" Myrei smiled at that, truth was she was wondering if he had the maturity to not abuse her gift.

"Alright, alright" the dog boy agrees as he grabs a slice of the now cut cake.

"Here " Kimaru says handing him a small box

Naruto looks at it a bit confused as he unwrapped and opened the box. Inside rested a silver chain which had a bright blue sapphire cut into the shape of a spiral with gold filling in the gaps. The gem seemed to almost glow. Though no one noticed Myrei's eyes went wide as she looked at it and Kimaru just smiled at her.

"Wow that's beautiful" Ino said "Not many guys wear jewelry though"

"Well it was made to match the Uzumaki symbol" Kimaru explains "Our flak jackets that chuunin and jounin wear, and even if it isn't his official clan it is Naruto's namesake. I chose the sapphire to match his eyes"

"Oh i see"

Jumping up Naruto hugs Kimaru "Thanks Kima-nee-chan, I love it"

Hugging him back "I'm glad you do"

He quickly latch the chain around his neck "Looks good Naruto" Sakura says

"Thanks Sakura-san" he says scratching the back of his head with his right hand.

"So what's next?" Kiba asks looking around

"We could play some games" Ino suggests and that is what they decide to do. The next couple hours were filled with them playing some silly party games and what felt like it was too soon everyone soon started to leave once again wishing him a happy birthday.

Naruto smiled as he walked back after Kiba left. He was the last one to leave the house, well beside Hinata, she was staying the night again. Thinking of her his smile faded a bit he never got him a gift like she promised.

"Don't worry about cleaning up Naruto-kun" Kimaru says "Why don't you and Hinata go take a walk while I take care of it"

He nods looking at Hinata "want to?" he asks her.

"S-sure Naruto-kun" she replies before glancing at Kimaru who was smiling at her. She knew what she was planning to do, there was no other explanation. Nodding and going to get his sandals on she follows doing the same.

They are soon out in the crisp cold air walking around the city in relative silence, it seemed a bit strained. The two kept walking and Naruto decided to try and liven up the mood. He was trying to not be bothered by Hinata not giving him a gift.

"It's a nice night out today, neh Hinata?"

"Yes it is" she says quietly. She was panicking a lot. She had made up her mind on what her gift was but she was so worried about whether he would accept it or not. However if she had any idea about how much her own internal debate was stressing Naruto she would not be as worried about it.

Said boy on the other hand could not help but feel like he had done something wrong. Hinata was a quiet girl but usually he could carry on a nice conversation with her. Maybe she was worried about getting him a gift, but he did not really care about that. Her being around as his first and closest friend was all he really needed.

"Hey Hina don't worry about getting me a gift" He said suddenly as he looked around where they had ended up. It looked like one of the training grounds with a large lake in front of them. The moon's light was reflecting off the water showing them with a silvery glow.

Hinata's head snapped up out of her thoughts "No that's not it Naruto-kun"

"Well you're clearly worried about it, I don't care about a present as long as you keep being my friend" He smiled at her.

Hinata looked back into those bright blue eyes she loved and made her decision, the consequences could come later. Running over she quickly grabbed hold of him before bringing her lips right into contact with his.

Standing there uncertain of what to do Naruto let the kiss continue for a good few seconds before Hinata stepped back with a blush so red that could make a tomato jealous. Taking a deep breath "Naruto-kun, I love you"

"Uhhhh" was Naruto's intelligent response. His brain has completely shut down from the feeling of her lips on his. And if one listened clearly they could hear the gears in his head slowly restarting. He quickly shook his head and looked back at her.

She was looking up at him clearly looking embarrassed but he also noticed that right now the light of the moon gave her pale skin a wonderful glow. Her eyes shined in the light and for the first time he actually really looked at her and he could not deny, she looked gorgeous in that simple dress. His heart started pounding in his chest and he was not sure why.

"I...that was...Ummm" He could not form any words right now but his his babbling at least caused Hinata to giggle a bit and once again he listened to it in a new light. It was like the ringing of a heavenly bell. He could not help but blush as he looked at her.

She smiled now feeling a bit relaxed "I'm sorry if this was too sudden, I wanted to give you a memorable gift. I know you probably don't share my feelings but i wanted you to know. I'll head back to the Hyuga compound for the night" she started to leave worried she may have cause damage to their friendship.

Seeing her go he reacted on instinct reaching out and grabbing her hand and pulling her back to him. He held her in a tight hug.

"Naruto-kun?" she asks, her blush returning in full force.

"I don't know" he says and she looks at him confused. "I have no idea what I feel right now, but i know i don't want you to leave. I can't say that i feel the same but i also can't say I don't right now… So maybe do you want to go on a date sometime?"

Her eyes went wide. She was certain that she had freaked him out and he was just going to head home and worry about what she had said. Slowly she nodded a large smile spreading across her face "I would love that Naruto-kun"

He smiled back just as wide before excitedly saying "Okay!"

She giggled once again and Naruto smiled wider. He never really thought about dating yet but it might be fun if he takes Hinata. He would figure out how he felt and give her a proper answer. She deserved it.

* * *

Made my beta reader squee like a fangirl with this so hope i did that for you. Speaking of which he has also written his own story, which i think is awesome as well.

His author name is RandRigriae and his story is Hyuga's Downfall. If you like Naru/Hina give it a read.


	9. Chapter 9

Naruto was smiling as he leaned against the tree waiting. He had his katana at his side and his necklace in his hand looking at the pattern. He loved these gifts and never left them anywhere. He looked up towards the large compound behind the huge wooden gates waiting for her to come out.

Today they would finally be allowed to take the academy graduation test and they would pass. He smiled as he saw the gate open and out of it came his girlfriend, Hyuuga Hinata. She had not changed her look in the last few months, except she wore a necklace similar to his, though it had her clan emblem made out of a beautiful amethyst gem set in a gold background.

Seeing him waiting she ran over to him and he held out his hand for her, and she took it into her own before entwining their fingers. "Morning Naruto-kun"

"Morning hime" he said smiling causing a light blush to cover her face. He smiled as he watched that. After she had confessed a few months back, he had begun to see those small things in a new light. He also enjoyed being the one to make her laugh, smile or even blush. He was not sure why but he did.

"Ready for the test Naruto-kun?" Hinata asked her boyfriend. She could not help but feel happy whenever she thought of him as such. It took years for her to build up the courage to confess but she was so happy she did. It also made Sakura and Ino very jealous.

"Ugh don't remind me" He says "I hate tests"

"I think you will do fine" she says comfortingly "we practiced a lot for it right?"

"Yea, we did. I wonder if I will be able to use my sword" He said. Since kenjutsu was not part of the academy curriculum he was never allowed to use his bokken in spars. As a result of that, and that he hated written tests, he was in the bottom part of the class in terms of the official class rankings.

"That would be a lot better for you" She responds. Hinata always performed well in spars and she did quite well on written tests. The almost exact opposite of her partner. She was ranked fifth in the class despite not even showing off her prefered method of combat, her bow.

In fact no one outside their little group even knew she used a weapon, let alone how good she was with it. It was also a great compliment to Naruto's sword allowing him to close the distance while she covered his approach. Well at least that was the theory, they had never actually tried it in combat. They had practiced the maneuvers though so they knew how to apply them.

They had their short walk to the academy and headed into their class. Among the first to arrive, only Shino had shown up before them. Deciding to head towards the back of the room they sat and waited for Iruka to enter the classroom. It was only a short twenty minutes later that the rest of the class had come in and Iruka was at the front looking over his students.

"Alright class today is the day we test to see who will be graduating to become a gennin. That being said, let's get right into it" He then produced a stack of tests from seemingly nowhere and then handing them out to the class. "You have an hour for this test"

Everyone got right to work at that. The test covered the very basics of trap making and chakra theory. Naruto was scratching his brain to try and get the answers, he was glad that trap making was a part as he could ace that part. Myrei had given him expansive practice with traps, as she often had him help catch food in the woods for dinner.

"Okay times up!" Iruka calls and Naruto's head snapped up. How was an hour up already?

Sighing he handed his test back and Iruka before looking at Hinata "I think i got enough to pass"

"You will be fine if you do really well on the other sections" Hinata says comfortingly he nodded with determination. He was not going to fail.

"Alright Mizuki-sensei will be grading the tests while we head out to the field for your spar. Naruto raised his hand about to ask a question. Knowing that the question coming was whether he could fight with his bokken, he answered "Yes Naruto you can"

"Yatta!" He cheered. Grabbing his wooden sword and heading out to the yard right away with Hinata just left behind giggling at him.

"Well let's go then" Iruka says leading the rest if the class out to the yard. Naruto was there already taking a few swings with his practice weapon. Hinata could not help but giggle a bit at him for his eagerness.

"Alright since Naruto is so eager he can go first" Naruto grins at that "Alright Riku you're up against him. Since this is the final test anything is allowed"

The boy in question steps forward and steps into a standard stance drawing one of the academy practice kunai, shaped as a standard one but made of wood and artificially weighted, and held it infront of him.

"Ready? Hajime!" Iruka calls out and Naruto dashes forward swinging his blade out in a horizontal swing, which Riku ducks preparing to dash forward but Naruto kicks his foot towards him, forcing his opponent to roll backwards. Naruto keeps pressing his aggressive stance and aims for a strong overhead swing, before the other boy can stand back up.

Riku brings up his practice weapon in an attempt to block the much stronger attack. Struggling with holding off the wooden sword before Naruto swung a strong uppercut with his free left hand causing the boy to fall back and before Riku can get back up he has a bokken at his neck.

"Very good Naruto" Iruka says, surprised at his skill with the sword and taking notes "alright, Next up is Kiba and Shikamaru"

Walking over to Hinata smiling as she held out her hand and they went and sat waiting for the rest of the test to pass. The rest of the test passed normally and as expected, Sasuke acing his opponent along with Hinata, who managed to not need her bow again.

"Alright we will have lunch and then we will conclude the test with the ninjutsu section"

Naruto looks at Hinata grinning as she pulls out two bento. Handing one to her boyfriend and taking the other for herself. He eagerly dives into it "Thanks Hime! Your bento are the best!" he exclaims

"Thank you, Naruto-kun" She blushed lightly at the compliment. She loved hearing any compliment he gave her. She also started to believe what she heard from her mother who said _'the way to a man's heart is through his stomach'_

Chuckling to herself she could not help but believe it as Naruto seemed to love her food. "What's so funny Hime?"

"Oh nothing just something I remembered hearing before"

"Oh, okay" he says before devouring the rest of his lunch.

He spent the rest of his lunch just chatting with Hinata until the bell rang and the two of them headed inside for the end of their test. Taking their same spot at the back of the class the two of them see Iruka enter.

"Alright class the last test for ninjutsu is the bushin. Basic I know but it's an important one" He looks over the class "Alright now when i call you please come up and perform the jutsu"

He started calling the students in alphabetical order, to come into a side room for their test, until it came time for Hinata stepping forward she easily scored perfect marks because of her expert chakra control, the only one who could come close to her in that category was Sakura Haruno. Taking her headband she ties it around her neck.

However the issue came when it was Naruto's turn. Walking up and taking a deep breath he called out "Bushin no jutsu!" and after a moment a pair of clones popped into existence. They were both wearing the same outfit but in different colours, one was red the other was yellow. The clones also lacked his distinctive whisker marks.

Iruka frowned and looked at his clipboard before talking to the other sensei, Mizuki. Naruto stood nervously as the two made a decision. "Congratulations Naruto, you pass"

"Yahoo!" he jumps and cheers as Iruka hands him a hitai-ate. Taking it he ties it around his forehead. He then rushes back to the other room to celebrate with Hinata.

"Naruto" Iruka calls before the hyperactive gennin can rush off, he handed him a sheet of paper "Here your test results. Make sure to practice your ninjutsu. You scored very well in the sparing and okay in the written part. You have a long way to go but you can be great as long as you don't slack. Okay?"

Receiving a nod of excitement in return from the young ninja, he runs off. Seeing Hinata at the door waiting he waves "I passed!"

"Congratulations Naruto-kun" Hinata said. She had full faith that he could pass. She was just worried about his test. He was never good with written tests. "Should we celebrate?"

"Yea, we gotta tell Kima-nee-chan and Myrei-sensei" he says starting to leave the classroom.

"Hold up before you all leave" Iruka says to the class "Make sure you all report back tomorrow for your team assignments.

Naruto grabs Hinata's hand and starts to run home. It only took around ten minutes to arrive home. Rushing inside he did not notice the extra pair of shoes by the front door.

"Nee-chan!" He called out running inside and quickly finding the two women in the living room with a rather unexpected guest. The sandaime was sitting and sipping some tea.

"Ah hello Naruto-kun and Hinata-chan" the elderly man greets "I see the two of you graduated"

"Jii-san" Naruto smiles "What are you here for?"

"I came to tell you something, but it will have to wait a bit"

"No Hinata should hear and she won't care" Kimaru says and the hokage looks at her with a serious expression. "Do not underestimate her resolve"

The two kids look confused at what the adults were discussing. Sighing the hokage speaks up "Naruto we are here to talk about your gift and your curse"

"What do you mean?"

"Naruto you know how everyone seems to hate you?"

He nods and looks at them "What reason is there for that?"

"Naruto, what is your birthday?" Myrei asks

"October tenth… Why?"

"Because it involves that day. October tenth, twelve years ago. Im sure you know the big event that occurred then. The attack of the Kyuubi no kitsune. When that happened my successor went to fight it and eventually defeated it, at the cost of his life."

The two kids nod knowing all this from the academy "What does that have to do with me?"

"The yondaime defeated the Kyuubi but he couldn't kill it. Even if he could it would reform after a few years."

"So what did he do?" Hinata asked as Naruto started to feel nervous.

"He sealed it. In the only thing that could hold it, a human baby. A young one specifically, a newborn" Kimaru says watching the kids.

"In me…" Naruto says quietly looking down.

"Correct" Sarutobi says

"You two knew?" He asks the two older women in his life. He sees them nod and frowns "Then why didn't you tell me?"

"We wanted to make sure you were ready to hear it" Kima says "When you graduated the academy and earn that headband you are an adult in the eyes of the village. You were ready to hear your burden now."

"Naruto-kun?" Hinata asks reaching for his hand. His head snaps up looking at her a bit worried, until she smiles the beautiful smile she always has "I want you to know this changes nothing about how i feel for you"

He smiles at that "thanks hime"

"Well you took this news a lot better than i did expect, you both did" The elderly man says with a happy expression. "Now Naruto I hope this explains a lot about your life"

"Thank you Jii-san. I'm happy to finally know the truth" he then grins "Can you tell me what the teams are going to be?"

Chuckling at the blonde he grinned in return "It's a surprise Naruto-kun, you have to wait till tomorrow to find out. Just like the rest of your classmates"

"Awwww. I hope i get to be with Hina-chan at least"

Hinata blushed at that "I want to be on your team as well Naruto-kun"

"Alright you two lovebirds. It's time to celebrate, let's go get food. You two can choose where to go then"

"Ichiraku ramen!" Naruto yells out and everyone chuckles

"Okay fine let's go Naru-chan" Myrei teases as they head out.

"I will have to go back to work but do enjoy yourselves" Sarutobi says as he waves goodbye to them. Looking as he watches them head down the road he says to himself "You will do great things in your future Naruto-kun, I know it"


	10. Chapter 10

Several jounin stood around the room as the hokage entered along with Iruka the teacher of the most recent graduating class. The kage headed over to his desk opening a folder. "I assume everyone has already looked over the profiles for the students"

Receiving a positive response he continues "Then here are the initial team assignments based off rank, does anyone have any arguments against them?"

"The decision to split up Naruto and Hinata is a bad one" A voice says from the back.

"I think that may be a bit biased coming from Naruto's guardian" A certain one eyed jounin says looking back at Kimaru as she walks forward.

"That doesn't change the fact that those two will work better together than any other two genin"

"Then what would you suggest?" The elder ninja in the room asks

"Switch Sakura and Hinata. Team seven will have Naruto, Sasuke and Hinata. Team eight will have Sakura, Kiba and Shino"

"Losing Hinata would weaken my team as a tracking specialist squad" A red eyed, black haired woman spoke up this time.

"Between an Aburame and an Inuzuka your team can already track anyone. Sakura shows the most promising talent in genjutsu, we also need to look at the best way for the students to grow."

"That is very true. However how will Hinata grow under Kakashi?"

"Hinata will grow no matter who she learns from so long as she remains with Naruto. This method will also help round out the teams. Kiba is a strong close range fighter and Shino is a mid range one, Sakura learning genjutsu will help cover them. As for team seven Naruto is close range with his kenjutsu, Sasuke covers the mid range and Hinata will round out that team"

"And how will she do that? Hyuuga are taijutsu users and she will cover the same role as Naruto, front line attacker"

The sandaime lights his pipe as he thinks about the arguments "What is your opinion Iruka-san? You have been teaching them for the past years."

"Well both have very valid points, one thing i am worried about is how close those two are. They do clearly care for each other but that could potentially get in the way and cause trouble. However it could also be the exact opposite, and Kimaru-san seems adamant that it would be the latter"

Leaning back in his chair he debates to himself. "Alright I have made my decision"

* * *

"Team seven will be Uzumaki Naruto, Uchiha Sasuke" Iruka said to the class and he heard Naruto groan "And Hyuuga Hinata, your sensei is Hatake Kakashi"

"Woohoo!" Naruto yells out in excitement "Too bad we have to have Sasuke as well though, neh Hime?"

"No need to be mean Naruto-kun" She chastises "We have to work with each other so we should get along with him"

"I guess you're right" He sighs

"We will be having lunch and then you will meet your sensei's after that in about an hour"

Naruto looks up at Iruka having missed the remaining teams since he was talking to Hinata. The students started to group up and head off to eat. Shrugging he headed over to Sasuke "Hey wanna come grab lunch with us?" He asks

He looks at Naruto before glaring "no" He answers simply before leaving the classroom

"Well isn't he the friendliest person" Naruto mutters annoyed

"Well how about we go to Ichiraku's then?" Hinata offers and Naruto quickly agrees, taking her hand and heading to his favorite place to eat.

Arriving at the stand the older man greets the young couple "Well if it isn't my favorite couple" He grins at the blushing kids. "What can i get you two?"

"I will just have a bowl of chicken ramen" Hinata says politely

"Give me five beef and two miso ramen" Naruto calls out loudly. The man starts to get to work as Hinata takes a seat next to her blonde boyfriend. "So think our sensei will be strong?"

"I don't know Naruto-kun" she says "but he likely is strong most jounin are"

"I guess" He says starting on his third bowl "Well whatever we will meet him soon i guess"

They finish their meal in a nice comfortable silence. They two of them start to head back to the schools after eating and after arriving sit and wait for their sensei. Before long only three students remain, the members of team seven.

"Where is he!?" The irate blonde demands. They had been waiting for a few hours now. Hinata looked up from her seat where she was looking over a booklet and trying to play the harp she had received recently as a present. Kimaru had told her it is a good way to keep her fingers nimble. She also liked the sounds it made, when she could get it right.

"Maybe he was just held up?" Hinata offers

"For three hours?" to which the girl can only shrug.

Right about then a man covering most of his face except his white, gravity defying hair. He was wearing a standard jounin uniform. "Team seven?" he says boredly "meet me on the roof" and with that he vanished.

"Was that our sensei?" Naruto asks confused as Sasuke silently gets up and heads for the roof. Naruto follows along with Hinata.

The three sat down opposite of their teacher, who was reading a book.

Seeing his students had arrived he slipped it away for later. "So we should all start by introducing ourselves. Our likes and dislikes. Dreams for the future, hobbies. That sort of thing"

"Well sensei why don't you start? Show us what exactly you mean" Naruto said

"Well my name is Hatake Kakashi, I have no desire to tell you my likes or dislikes. Dreams for the future? Hmmmm, well i have a lot of hobbies" Was the very vague response he gave leaving three slightly annoyed students.

"All we got was his name" a grumpy Naruto said. Deciding to start the introductions himself "Well my name Uzumaki Naruto. What i like? Well i like my hime and my nee-chan and ramen! What i dislike is the time it takes to make ramen. Dreams, well i want to become a master the Shinmei-ryu and one day become hokage!"

Looking over the hyper blonde Kakashi nodded, he had pretty common dreams. Quite a few genin aspired for the hokage position when they started. His 'hime' as he guessed was Hinata based on the girls blush. He then motions to the silent Uchiha "You?"

"My name is Uchiha Sasuke, there are lots of things i dislike but not much i do. As for dreams, it's not a dream more an ambition." he gets a very cold and dangerous look in his eye "To kill a certain man"

Kakashi could not help but frown at that response, however it was not entirely unexpected with his past. "And you?" he asks Hinata

"My name is Hyuuga Hinata. I like my boyfriend and cinnamon rolls, I dislike certain issues in my clan. I'm not too sure about my dreams yet, but for hobbies i have been learning to play the harp"

Kakashi nods "alright so tomorrow we will start our duties as a four man cell"

"What will we be doing?" An excited naruto asks

"Tomorrow will be an activity with just the four of us. It will be survival training"

"Survival training?" Hinata asks "we did a lot of that in the academy"

Chuckling he responds "This is not regular training i will be your opponent and i'll tell you something that will really make you freak out" He says getting a certain amusement from this "Out of the twenty seven graduates only nine will actually become genin. Tomorrow will be a test to see if you have the qualities needed with a failure rate of sixty-six percent"

"WHAT?!" Naruto yells in response "but we just graduated!"

"You passed the tests but it's my decision on whether you are prepared for what lays ahead. Report to training ground ten at seven tomorrow, bring all your tools and weapons. Oh and don't eat breakfast, you'll just throw up" He grinned as he disappeared via shunshin leaving three shocked genin.

Sasuke was the first to recover as he headed to go train. He was interrupted by the sole female member of the team. "Ano sasuke-san? Should we make plans for tomorrow? Our opponent is a jounin"

"I don't need your help to pass this test" He says in an arrogant voice.

"No need to be rude teme!" Naruto yells at him "she was just trying to be nice to you ass!"

"Whatever baka" he says walking off, leaving an angry Naruto behind.

"Lets just go plan at your house Naruto-kun"

"Alright fine" He says following her home. They would make sure they passed this test.

* * *

The following morning had three sleepy genin waiting for their teacher. Unfortunately they had been waiting for a few hours now. It was not hard to understand why, since he told the kids to meet there a few hours ago.

"Where is he?" Naruto demanded. Hinata sighed, she loved the blonde but this was the sixth time he had asked since they arrived. It was also clear that their third teammate was also annoyed. Though whether it was the blonde or their sensei he was annoyed with was far from clear.

A sudden small puff of smoke announced the arrival of Kakashi which was met with a loud yell of "YOUR LATE!" from the blonde.

Kakashi ignored the blonde pulling out a clock and a few small bento and set them on some logs not too far away. Looking back at his students he starts to speak "So for this test today your objective will be to retrieve these bells from me. If you get a bell it means you graduate, if you don't you go back to the academy"

"But sensei, there are only two bells…" Hinata says

"Yup, so at least one of you will be going back to the academy. Oh, the one who doesn't get a bell will be tied to the log while we eat lunch"

The three students stared at him, there was no way for all of them to graduate. Naruto frowned, the plans they had made had accounted for Sasuke's help. Well they would just have to improvise and do it without him.

"It's nine now so you have three hours to get the bells. Come at me with the intent to kill or you won't succeed. We start now!" Immediately all three disappeared from sight. Looking around he could not see them, they were hidden well.

Or so he thought till he looked ahead to see an orange clad ninja with his arms crossed grinning confidently. "Sensei! Lets fight one on one for that bell!" he challenges

Blinking in surprise the masked ninja sighed, did this genin really think he could win a straight fight?

Naruto drew his sword and set into a stance causing Kakashi to analyze him 'His stance is good and well refined'

"Get ready!" he yells as he charges forward with surprising speed. Starting with a horizontal slash he aims to cut across his teachers chest. His eyes widen in surprise as his blade was being held off by a much smaller Kunai.

"Not a bad strike but too weak" The older man says as he kicks Naruto away.

The remaining two students watched from their hiding spots. Sasuke was laying on the ground under some bushes while Hinata was hidden in a tree a small ways away. She had her bow released from the seal on her left bracelet an arrow ready. She was watching the fight through her byakugan, waiting for the right time. She was waiting for an opening to hit her sensei. He did not know her weapon or where she was, she hoped.

Sasuke was surprised that the baka was holding his own against a jounin. He knew what he was doing with that blade. Nodding to himself he prepared to jump on Kakashi, he would wait for an opening to grab the bells.

Suddenly Kakashi ducks down to dodge as a metal arrow flies over his head 'An arrow?' He asks himself confused for a second before he hears a sizzling sound. His visible eye widens as he dives to the side as the exploding tag on the arrow detonates. 'That had to have been Hinata. A Hyuuga with a bow? Does explain why I was told it was a balanced team'

He did not have much longer to think as Naruto was charging at him again. Swinging his sword in a powerful overhead swing "Raimeiken!"(Thunderclap Sword). His blade surges with lightning energy. Kakashi jumps back as Naruto's blade impacts the ground creating a small explosion.

Sasuke took this chance to dash out for one of the bells. The jounin, who had heard his approach, twisted to the side and pushed him forward spinning around Sasuke threw a kunai at the older man, which was easily dodged. The young genin smirked as his knife hit a wire releasing a prepared trap which launched a volley of even more knives from the side.

Their teacher had to jump to avoid the onslaught as he noticed Sasuke going through hand seals before breathing a large fireball at him "Katon: Goukakyuu no jutsu!" (Fire style: Great fireball technique)

Unable to move himself in the air he performs a Kawarimi jutsu (replacement technique). Thinking he had finally got a moment to himself he was surprised to hear arrows flying at him again. Grabbing a kunai he knocks them out of the air, keeping an eye open for more explosive tag. Not seeing any he kept moving heading to where he thought the arrows were coming from.

'These kids aren't giving me a chance to even catch my breath. Naruto and Hinata clearly made plans, and it looks like Sasuke is just using the openings. They have some of the best teamwork I have seen yet. I may have to pass them regardless of the bells'

Turning his attention back to the boys he sees a fireball coming along with a crescent wave of what looks like air "Zankusen!" (air splitting blade) Was Naruto's yell as he was running in behind his attack. Seeing as he had trees behind him, Kakashi decided to block the fireball.

"Doton: Doryuheki" (Earth wall) A wall of solid rock and earth sprang up in front of him to block the attacks. His eye widens as he sees a blade cleave through his solid wall.

"Zanganken!" (stone cutting sword) He calls as he cuts the defense. Thinking quick he grins as he jumps up and kicks the large stone at his teacher, trying to squish him under the weight. The rock smashed on the ground and the blonde frowned. "Hey where did he go?"

"Doton: Shinju Zanshu no jutsu!" Sasuke heard from below before he was grabbed and dragged underground, leaving just his head above the ground.

"What?" Naruto calls confused as Kakashi blurred through hand seals. He suddenly disappeared and he jumped back with his sword at the ready. He was looking around rapidly, looking for his enemy before he remembered what happened to Sasuke. He jumped up and slammed his sword into the ground "Raimeiken!"

His attack smashed into the ground and he expected Kakashi to pop up but instead he heard a scream that sent a chill down his spine " HINATA!" he started sprinting to where he heard her and he went cold. In front of him was his girlfriend pierced by many weapons laying down unmoving.

"Magen: Narakumi no jutsu!" (Demonic illusion: Hell viewing technique) Kakashi said shrugging. "Might be a little mean" he stated before starting to walk away before he felt something coming off Naruto that made him feel fear for a moment "Kyuubi?!"

Naruto could feel nothing but rage and sadness as the whisker marks on his face widened and became darker. His nails grew and he reached his sword and unconsciously channeled chakra giving the blade an evil looking red glow. " **You will pay!"** He roars and charges.

Before he can get halfway there an arrow of pure fire impacts the ground making a decent size brief fire. "Naruto-kun stop!" Hinata calls out as she jumps down. Naruto almost instantly snaps out of it.

"Hi-Hinata?" He looks back to where her body was to see it gone.

"It was a genjutsu." Kakashi explains "I'm sorry, i didn't expect it to affect you so badly"

"You're okay" Naruto says before he hugs her tightly, which does cause her to blush.

Coughing a bit their attention was brought back to Kakashi. "Well no one got the bells" The group had unanimous upset looks. "Though based on what i saw you all pass"

"What? We never got the bells though... " Naruto asks confused

"That was never the point of this test" Their teacher explains "It was to see if you could work together even if it meant sacrificing yourself so your own advancement. You and Hinata have some of the best coordination I have ever seen, especially as genin. As well even though Sasuke didn't seem to like working with you directly he still fit well in with the rest. So tomorrow squad seven will begin its active duties"

"Awesome!" Naruto cheers "Let's go celebrate"

The other two agree and they start to head away back to the village. They had high hopes for the future as they were officially beginning their careers as ninja.

"Oi! Get me out of here first!"


	11. Chapter 11

So to start sorry for the really late update. I have been having troubles with running my store and I had to get some teeth pulled so that was pleasant.

If it is not clear yet i have been sticking close to cannon so far but i like to change the fight scenes pretty big. I will have a few original arcs in here as well eventually.

As normal I do not own naruto or the shinmei-ryu.

* * *

"Does that look normal?"

"No red is not the normal colour" Myrei replies

"Did i break it?" A worried Naruto asks

"Maybe don't mess around with things in the future" Was the woman's response

"I didn't do it on purpose" Naruto says trying to defend himself

Kimaru chips in "Well i don't feel any malevolent presence so i think it's fine"

"Oh that's great" Naruto says grabbing his sword off the table. The reason for the worry was the blade had turned a brilliant crimson colour after his accidental release of the Kyuubi chakra. The sword had absorbed the chakra and as far as anyone could tell it had not changed at all. Still made them a bit nervous about it.

"So you start as a ninja tomorrow?" Kimaru asks him.

"Yea! I am so excited to see what missions we will get" Naruto responded excitedly "Kakashi-sensei said to meet him tomorrow at seven"

"Well, make sure you rest up then" She replies "It's already a little late. Oh also you should see if your other teammate knows how to climb trees"

"He was the top student of the year. Shouldn't he already know?"

"His clan was killed off" Myrei says "He probably didn't have anyone to teach him how to do it yet. So if your teacher is late again show him, may as well"

"Why should i help that teme?"

"He's your teammate. Even if you're not exactly friends you should help him"

"Alright fine" He relents in agreement. "Well I guess I will shower and go to sleep then"

He heads up the stairs to shower as Myrei looked at the sword once again. "What's wrong Myr?"

"That blade is odd. I can feel no malevolent presence but holding it makes me feel disturbed. No one will be able to wield that blade properly but him."

"Think it might end up like your Almace?" Kima asks

"I sure hope not" She scoffs "That thing is a pain in my ass. Sealed it for a reason"

"Well as long as it won't cause him problems we will be fine" Myrei nods her head in agreement. "Okay we should be off to bed as well i think"

* * *

"Where is he!?" Naruto demanded as he looked around the training ground again for their, once again, late sensei. He had been so excited to start missions but he was stuck here waiting.

"Naruto-kun, maybe we should just train for a bit?" Hinata suggests as she stopped playing her instrument. "Sasuke-kun, do you know how to do the tree climbing?"

"Climbing trees?" He gives her an odd look as she nods.

"With only chakra" She explains standing up and walking over to a tree before walking straight up it. "It's a very good chakra control exercise along with allowing greater range of movement in confined areas"

Looking at her he asks "How exactly do you do that?"

"You channel chakra to your feet. Which is the hardest point to control your chakra as it has the fewest chakra points." Seeing his confused expression she elaborated "Chakra points are the the points on the body that you can release chakra from. There are three-hundred and sixty-one points and only five are on the bottom of your feet. So it is incredibly hard to coat the bottom of your feet, which is what you need to do"

Finishing her explanation Sasuke heads over to a tree and making a ram seal before he attempted to run up the tree, slipping a few feet he flipped over and landed on his feet. "Not so easy is it?" Naruto laughs. Sasuke looks back glaring at the blonde.

"Well it took you three weeks to get it down Naruto-kun" Hinata giggles

"Hime! You didn't need to tell him that!" The now embarrassed swordsman exclaims. "Well it takes time. It is hard not my fault it took time!"

Hinata smiles and climbs up into a tree and sitting on one of the low branches she starts to play again. Sasuke kept attempting the tree climbing while Naruto started going through his sword kata's. That was the sight that Kakashi saw as he showed up around ten.

"I'm surprised you are practicing that Sasuke" he says, startling the genin.

"YOU'RE LATE!" Naruto yells loudly at him and Kakashi waves him off, before addressing Sasuke again.

"Where did you learn to do that?"

"Hime showed him" Naruto shrugs "Me and her both know how to do it so we figured that we should make sure he did as well"

"So you both know it as well then? Huh, good to know" He says to himself. "Well shall we get to our missions for today?"

Seeing a unanimous agreement he started to lead them towards the mission receiving offices of the tower. Naruto was clearly excited to start a mission as he almost dragged Hinata ahead by their linked hands. Kakashi knew he would soon be much less excited to be doing them soon.

After arriving Kakashi lead his team up the correct room and acquired a small scroll from the chuunin that was working there.

"Alright here we are" He says to his team as he opened the scroll. "So our first missions are in the village. Follow me"

Leading them across the village they arrived at a small house with a large fence. The fence was clearly white before but a lot of the paint had be worn off. Kakashi knocks on the front door and an old man steps out soon after "Hello we are here to complete your request."

"Bout damn time, I put that in two days ago!" The old man says annoyed "Supplies are in the back" He then closes the door again.

"Sensei why are we here?" Naruto asks.

"Our mission today is to paint this fence" He says with a grin.

"Paint a fence?" Sasuke asks a little angry.

"Yup" Was his response as he started to move around back of the house and grabbing the supplies. "That was the mission we were hired for so that's what we need to do"

The kids groaned and started to grab the brushes before starting to to paint. That task took them a fair few hours, which was filled with Naruto's complaining and Kakashi's ignoring it and ready his favorite book.

After finishing the painting they looked to their sensei "Okay we also need to weed the garden, mow the lawn and organize the shed. You can divide the tasks among yourselves and once we are done we can head home for the day"

"Okay Hinata can take the garden, i'll do the lawn and you can do the shed Naruto" Sasuke says taking hold of the situation.

"What? Who made you the leader?" Naruto asked in protest.

"Let's just get this done baka" He says.

"I'm not an idiot teme!"

Stepping in between them before they started a fight "Can we just do the job?" Hinata asks and the two boys reluctantly agree and head off in opposite directions to go finish their tasks.

The remaining tasks, once split up, were able to be finished in just another hour. That still put it at about five in the afternoon now. That meant one thing for Naruto "RAMEN!" He calls as he runs to the stand.

"Alright I'll go report our mission today. You guys go eat. We will do another mission tomorrow" The jounin says before disappearing via shunshin.

* * *

This was how the following weeks continued. The students would arrive at about nine in the morning and practice what they could. It took just over a week for Sasuke to get the tree climbing exercise and all three were working on doing the water walking, which Kakashi had shown them after they had all mastered that one. It had been around two weeks of low D-rank before Naruto had enough.

"Your next mission is to babysit a fe-" The Hokage was interrupted by the angry blonde.

"NO WAY! NO MORE STUPID MISSIONS!" He yelled in anger and while he did not voice it Sasuke gave a silent nod in agreement. Hinata meanwhile just sighed quietly.

"Don't interrupt hokage-sama" Kakashi said as he hit him on the back of the head.

"You idiot!" Iruka said from the side "You are just newly graduated genin. Low level missions like this is how you build up your basic skills" He then proceeded to remind them of how the mission ranking system worked.

"Well how long do we have to do this then? We have done like fourteen D-rank missions when do we get something better?"

The hokage takes a puff of his pipe "You know I think we can give you a C-rank mission" This was a very surprised reaction from all present including Kakashi and Iruka. He ignored them and continued. "You will be doing a simple escort mission of a certain individual."

"Oh who will we be protecting?" A now very excited swordsman asks.

"Send him in" Sarutobi calls and soon after a clearly drunk man steps in.

"These kids are my escort?" He looks them over "They don't look very reliable"

"I am a jounin and I will also be coming with you" Kakashi pipes in.

"Well my name is Tazuna, I'm a bridge builder and i expect you guys to protect me until i get home and finish my current project"

"Well alright team let's go get packed for a few weeks travel and meet up at the south gate in an hour" The jounin says and the kids rush off to go get packed and ready. Turning to the client he says "Well i will need to go pack as well. We will meet you soon"

Just over an hour later Kakashi arrived with his own large backpack. Looking over his charges he sees that they all seem to be prepared. "Alright let's head out then!" Naruto calls as they head out the gate.

"Geeze kid why are you so excited?" Their client asks looking at the kid.

"First time a mission has taken us out of the village" Naruto replies.

"You have never left the village?" He asks a little worried. "Are you sure i'm safe with you guys?"

"Of course you are! And i have so been out of the village. I spent a good five years training outside the village!"

"Alright let's get into a proper formation" Kakashi says "Naruto you and Hinata cover the right and left flanks, Sasuke take the front, I'll cover the rear. This is only a C-rank mission so we should be ready for thugs and bandits, but do not lower your guard"

"Hai!" was the simultaneous response from the kids as they headed out to cover their assigned positions. They continued down their path for several hours with only some simple conversation and some quiet music from Hinata.

The most experienced of the ninja noticed as they walked he noticed a puddle, he was hoping at least one of his students noticed but it seemed they did not.

He remained calm even as he heard the two ninja raise up from the puddle and charge at him. They wrapped a bladed chain around him and he feigned surprise "What?!"

"One down" One of the twin chuunin says as they pull the chain tight shredding the higher ranked ninja into pieces.

"Kakashi-sensei!" Hinata screams as the two disappeared reappearing right by Naruto who was in the process of drawing his sword.

"Two down" The other ninja says as they start to wrap the chain around him. HOwever he was saved by the quick reflexes and practiced hands of his male teammate who took a shuriken throwing it to pin the chain to a nearby tree. He then threw a kunai through the hole in the centre of the small weapon to hold it in place.

The two former mist ninja looked back shocked as the young ninja landed on their gauntlets and kicked out with his feet to hit each of them in the face. The two quickly nod to each other changing their tactics as they disconnect the chain. One of the brothers running around towards Hinata and the client, the other aiming for Naruto.

The one that was aiming for Naruto met a sword as he blocked the clawed gauntlet. Grabbing his blade in both hands he yells out pushing back against the attack and forcing the chuunin back. He then dashes forward to attack his enemy and he manages to dig his sword deep into the kiri-nins shoulder.

Crying in pain as he jumps back holding his wound, with his un-clawed hand. He did not have time to wait though as the blonde kept coming at him. "Zanganken!" (Stone splitting blade) He yells bringing his sword in a horizontal swing. The chuunin brought his gauntlet up to block only to grunt in pain as the attack bent in the metal of his armored weapon.

Meanwhile Hinata had reacted quickly and moved herself between the second attacker and Tazuna. She quickly realized she would not have enough time to use her bow and set herself into her jyuuken stance. She quickly moved forward thrusting her palm forward towards his chest.

Unfortunately for him he did not understand the dangers of this fighting style and when he did feel the damage, coughing blood into his mask. With a mad look in his eye he aimed his weapon at her neck with the intent of stabbing it into her neck. "DIE!"

However the timely return of Kakashi grabbing his hand saved the young girl. "Well now we will be having none of that" He says smiling.

Hearing the other nin once again they looked over to see Naruto with his opponent on the ground with his sword driven through his shoulder. "Naruto! Stop we want him alive" Kakashi called out to his student.

"Sensei!? You're alive?" Naruto asks in surprise.

"Indeed. I could tell they were there for a while"

"How did you read our movements?" One of them asked Kakashi.

"Come now, it's a bright sunny day when it hasn't rained in days? There's no way that there would be a puddle on the road"

"If you were alive then why did you let the kids fight?" Tazuna asks.

"Well two reasons. First I wanted to see who these men were after, whether they were hunting us or you." He levels a stare at the now nervous man "The second was to see how my students would handle combat like this and i must say that all three of you handled yourself excellently!" He said with pride in his voice.

"Also we now have an issue Tazuna. Those ninja were aiming for you. This mission was not supposed to have conflict with enemy ninja. This has now jumped the rank up to a B-rank mission. A much more expensive mission."

"You're not going to abandon me are you?"

"You have no right to complain as you lied about the mission parameters. Now you can tell us the truth" The elder ninja says in a tone that left no room for debate.

"FIne I'll tell you" Tazuna relents. He could only hope they would keep helping him after they heard.


	12. Chapter 12

So I meant to get this up last night but my beta reader was slow to get back to me.

Now as you may have noticed I have kept the story almost right on canon for the moment as I don't have an original story arc, yet but I will. So instead of changing the story I have been massively changing the fights and this is the same way.

Now I have heard people being upset over Naruto not learning shadow clones, do not worry I do have plans for him to learn it, I just could not find a good way to have him learn them.

So as normal I do not own Naruto or the Shinmei-ryu

* * *

The group was riding a boat hidden in the thick mist of the wave country. They had decided to continue, the kids who were unwilling to give up the first mission they had outside the village and their sensei agreed believing his team could handle it.

"I can't see anything in this mist" Naruto complains

"We will be able to see the bridge soon. Wave country is at the base of it" The man steering the boat said, and true to his word a moment later a huge stone bridge could be seen. The bridge was the biggest structure any of them had ever seen.

"Woah that huge!" The loud blonde said only to get a slight smack on the back of his head.

"Quiet! Why do you think we are going through the fog and not using a motor? We will be in a lot of trouble if Gatou finds us!"

They continue their quiet and careful ride through the water. They soon arrive at the shore and getting off the boat as fast as they could. "This is it for me" the boatman says "Good luck Tazuna-san"

"Yea thanks for the help" Tazuna replies before looking at the ninjas "Okay! Now get me home safe"

"Yes, yes" Kakashi says in his usual bored tone. Though he looked bored he was on high alert for enemy ninja. He was expecting the next enemy to be a jounin level ninja and not chuunin like the last ones.

The group moved at a steady enough pace, even if it was slower than they could go. It would also help them avoid walking into a trap. As they walked through the forested path Naruto threw a shuriken into the bushes. Out jumped a small brown rabbit that looked terrified.

Both Naruto and Hinata recognised the oddity in it's coloring. They had spent five years in the woods, learning about the animals and hunting them had been something that they had needed to do. So it came as no surprise to either of them when they heard their sensei yelled "EVERYONE, GET DOWN!"

Reacting incredibly fast the three kids dive to the floor, Sasuke with the sense to tackle their client. They just narrowly manage to dodge the giant greatsword that went flying over their heads and lodged itself the tree. When the group looked up at it they could see a large, muscled man standing on to of it. He was wearing long pants with arm and leg warmers with a camo pattern on them. He also had the bottom part of his face covered in bandages.

"Well if it isn't the nuke-nin Momochi Zabuza" Kakashi says looking up at him. In his head he was thinking of how he was going to fight him and keep his students safe at the same time. "Looks like i might have some trouble if i don't do this from the start" he says reaching up for his headband.

"Everyone stay back and cover Tazuna. I'll fight him, he's on another level altogether"

"I get to see the famous sharingan right off the bat huh?" Zabuza says as he watches them. That line got the attention of of two of the children, one whom that belonged to and the other who knew what it was.

Kakashi slowly lifted up his headband to reveal the red eye with three black tomoe inside it. The surprise was visible on Sasuke's face. Why did his sensei have an eye that only appeared in his family?

"Well then the infamous Sharingan Kakashi let's see how good you are" Zabuza says grabbing hold of his massive blade. He then jumped off the tree and lands on the water, his right hand held in a half ram seal and his left held straight in the air. He soon starts to release a large amount of chakra. "Ninpou: Kirigakure no jutsu" (Ninja skill: Hidden mist technique)

"Momochi Zabuza was a member of the mist and an expert of the killing silently. You wouldn't notice until you're dead."

The three kids nod and jump back to surround Tazuna in a protective formation. It had Hinata on his left in her jyuuken stance, Sasuke on the right with a kunai drawn and Naruto in the front preparing to draw his sword.

"Eight choices" Zabuza's voice pierces the fog "Liver, lungs, spine, clavicle vein, neck vein, brain, kidneys and heart. Which one should i go after"

"Hime can you see him?"

"No the fog is too thick with chakra"

"Plan B?" Naruto asks and Hinata nods in response. Sasuke looked over at the two of them confused, what the hell was plan B?

Both of them closed their eyes and focused, they were gathering natural chakra and Sasuke could not tell what they were doing at all. Naruto's eyes shot open as he spun drawing his sword and slashing between himself and Tazuna. The sudden move startled Kakashi, their client and teammate, however they soon saw what he was doing as a clone appeared and was dispersed instantly.

Sasuke was now able to get a look at his ally and saw the yellow marks around his eyes but the eye changing to yellow with a vertical pupil is what really confused him. He know that Naruto did not have a doujutsu so why did his eyes change, and for that matter how was her able to detect Zabuza's clone.

A second Zabuza appeared behind Naruto with his sword raised high into the air preparing for a downward strike. Naruto felt him but he felt no fear or worry as he knew his partner had it under control.

Just as expected Hinata wasted no time in dashing forward and planting a solid palm onto his chest and unleashed a blast of chakra into his torso. Zabuza coughed and liquid flew out of his mouth before he dispersed into water. The two instinctively went back to back in ready stance and that gave Kakashi a good look at Hinata. She had dark blue marks on her face that followed the veins of her byakugan, looking almost like several rivers meeting up to connect to her eyes. The blue marks surrounded her eyes, which while still a solid colour were a deep purple.

Kakashi was honestly impressed with the two of them, though he had no clue why the markings had appeared on their faces. He started to look around again, their enemy had disappeared after the second had been destroyed he stayed away and they could not risk chasing him right now.

Kakashi suddenly felt a presence behind him as he ducked to avoid the massive blade that skimmed right over his head the wide swing was continued as he slammed the blade into the ground and he pivoted on the hilt and slammed his foot into Kakashi's stomach. The kick was strong enough to send the jounin flying towards the water.

Zabuza was soon beside him standing on the water and quickly flew through some hand signs "Suiton: Suiro no jutsu!" (water style: Water prison technique) The water soon formed a sphere surrounding and trapping the leaf nin. "Moron. Trying to run from a water nin in the water?"

He then turned to look at the kids "Well then let's take care of the brats." he put his free hand into a half ram seal and three water clones started to make their way out of the river.

"You guys have to run!" Kakashi yells "As long as he is holding the prison he can't follow you and the water clones will fall apart if they get too far away"

"Heh, we ain't scared of no water blobs!" Naruto boasts only for the Zabuza clones to start chuckling.

"Just water blobs eh?" they say in unison drawing their swords. "We will see if you keep thinking that"

The clones then charge forward one at each of the gennin. Naruto quickly drew his sword to block the strength behind the attack causing his knees to buckle. Zabuza was grinning behind his face wraps. "You think you can stop me with that tiny blade?"

"Don't need to" He grins in return and the clone looks confused before an arrow pierces its head. Hinata spins and holds out her bow to stop the attack. The markings from her sage mode appearing on her face again and the fact that she was able to hold of his swing surprising both him and Kakashi.

"How are you so strong?" He asks the surprisingly strong girl. Hinata in turn just smiles at him before Naruto runs him through and he splits into water and soaks the two of them.

The two quickly look over to Sasuke to make sure he is okay. They notice in time that he is fine as he quickly dispatched his own clone with a confident smirk. The three look back towards Zabuza and their captive teacher. If Zabuza was surprised or impressed he did not show it at all.

"Sasuke-kun" Hinata says quietly "could you please make a fireball?"

He looked over questioningly but did so running forward and going through his hand seals "Katon: Goukakyuu no jutsu!" As he reached the edge of the water and launched his attack another pair of Zabuza clones jumped out of the water aiming to cut off the boy's head.

The clones never made it that close however as Naruto cries out "Zankuusen!" The next moment a pair of arcing blades slice into the two clones.

The fireball then continued towards Zabuza who does seals with his one free hand "Suiton: Suijinheki" (water style: Water formation wall). Following that the water surrounding him came up to block the fire attack, this also blocked his sight for the next part of Hinata's attack.

Hinata herself was standing beside Tazuna with an arrow drawn. She was perfectly still as she gathered the natural energy for her attack. After a moment she releases the arrow and saying "Kaze no ya" (Arrow of wind). The arrow flew forward and looked as though it was forming a cyclone around it. The winds went wild and when it reached Sasuke's fireball it brought that into the vortex as well. The combination creating a storm of fire that collides with Zabuza's defence which was no match for the combined attack and quickly evaporated the wall.

"What the?" he cried out as he jumped away once the attack pierces the water and moves far enough away for Kakashi to get free and dive under the water for his own escape. He soon returns to the water surface and pulls himself up onto the surface.

Now Zabuza showed how pissed he was. No pissed was too light, he was down right furious and his eyes showed it. He charged at the kids swinging his giant sword with all his force at Naruto. This approach made it easy to tell what was coming though and Naruto was more than happy to take the opening as he swung his own blade to counter "Zantetsusen!" (Steel splitting flash)

Naruto's red blade swung fast and in a moment he sliced through the giant cleaver. The top half of the blade was sent flying away and it embedded in a tree nearby. He had to stare for a moment at his now broken sword "Impossible!"

"Not for the Shinmei-Ryu!" Naruto loudly proclaims. The mist nin responds by running through hand seals and out of the water comes a giant water dragon and as it went after them a second dragon rose up and went after the first one.

"Forget about me Zabuza?" Kakashi calls before throwing several kunai at the distracted ninja. The kunai flew through the air and imbedded in his arms and legs pinning him to the tree. The next instant Kakashi was next to Zabuza with his last kunai at the man's neck "It's over Zabuza"

Zabuza then reached up to try and attack Kakashi but he did not get the chance as several senbon came flying in a pierced his neck. He slumps down only remaining up from being pinned. "You were right. It was over" A soft voice says from a tree behind them causing the group to look up at the person. The person looked to be a child no older than them, if they went based off the height at least. They also had a white mask on with some read swirls on the front. "I apologize for attacking like that, it seemed as though he was still a threat and I have been after him for quite a while"

Kakashi reaches up and pulls his headband back down to cover his sharingan. The child moved next to Zabuza in an instant. "Now if you excuse me I must dispose of his body" and then they held up a half seal and shunshin to warp away.

Looking over where the child was Naruto asked "What, or who, was that?"

"That was a member of Kiri's hunter-nin squad. They specialize in tracking down and capturing rogue ninja, or ninja who abandon their home village."

They nod as Tazuna speaks up "Well lets all go rest at my place"

"Lead the - urgh" Was the sentence Kakashi got out before he fell on the ground unconscious.


	13. Chapter 13

**So this chapter took waaaaaaaaayyyyyyyyyy to long to get out and i will make only a few minor excuses. One work was bullshit dealing with people missing work or calling in. I run a store so whenever issues come up I have to deal with it and its just draining on me mentally and making me not want to write.**

 **This chapter was also rather uninteresting to write so i had a hard time motivating myself to do so, and i refused to just put out something bad. So read and hopefully enjoy and one last time sorry for the long delay.**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or the Shinmei-ryu**

* * *

The group was now sitting in a room in Tazuna's house, their teacher still unconscious from after the fight. With the bridge builder help they had managed to get their sensei to his home. They had been worried at first, but after they had found no wounds they assumed it was just exhaustion.

"So what do we do now?" Naruto asked aloud.

"Well our mission is still in place" Hinata says "We still need to protect Tazuna"

"What did you two do during that fight?" Sasuke asks suddenly "There was no way Hinata should have been able to stand against that huge weapon"

"That is actually a good question Sasuke" Kakashi says from laying down startling the kids. The three of them jumping slightly.

"What do you mean by that?" Naruto asks

"They mean our senjutsu Naruto-kun" Hinata says before continuing "Senjutsu is gathering energy from nature and using it to empower your body and ninjutsu. As for my weapon it's made of a material called ironwood and is as hard as steel while maintaining the properties of wood"

"Teach me how to do that senjutsu" Sasuke basically demands from the other two.

"We can't, even if we wanted to" Naruto speaks up

"Why not?"

"Because in order to learn how to use it, you have to let natural energy into your body. If this energy is not controlled, and trust me it takes a long time to learn that, you turn to stone."

"You turn to stone?" Kakashi asks sounding a bit sceptical

"Yup. Happened to both of us, only partially though. The only way to learn to use natural energy is to have someone who can pull the energy out of you if you lose control."

"Well that's a valuable tool for what's to come" Kakashi suddenly says from the floor startling the three of them.

"You think we are going to have more fighting sensei?" Hinata asks surprised

"Unfortunately, I think Zabuza is still alive."

That sentence shocked all three of his students "But didn't you check to see if he was dead?"

"I did, but after thinking on the weapons that kid used to kill Zabuza it's possible that he was only put into a temporary death state. Senbon like those can be used to paralyze body parts and slow all bodily functions to almost stopped, making it appear at first glance that someone is dead"

"So what do we do then?" Hinata asks

Kakashi simply gives his signature eye smile "We are going to train"

* * *

The three students were in a clearing in the woods looking at their instructor. He had said they will be doing some additional training but they had no idea what. Kakashi was making use of a pair of crutches as he had yet to recover from his fight.

"So the first thing that i would teach you kids now would normally be the tree climbing exercise. However I know that you kids already have that mastered that." Kakashi smiled at that "So instead I will be showing you all some more individual techniques to practice. Now i'll start with Sasuke as you two can still practice what you have for the moment"

Hinata and Naruto nod as Sasuke heads a little deeper into the woods following their instructor. Sasuke suddenly asks as they get far enough away from the others "Why do you have the sharingan?"

Kakashi sighed as he had expected this but hoped it would not come "That's a story for another time. Right now we should focus on training, I will tell you when we get back to the village" Sasuke did not look happy at that but he nodded in agreement. "Good then we will work on figuring out your elemental attributes"

His student nods and Kakashi pulls out a small square of paper and hands it over "Channel your chakra into that and depending how it reacts will tell us what affinity you have" Sasuke did exactly as instructed and the paper quickly crinkled up. "So it appears that you are highly attuned to raiton chakra so we will work on that. I'm the same element so that makes things easier.

"Using your chakra with an element is very different than using it normally. We will start with this" Kakashi says as he holds up his to hands facing each other about half a foot apart from each other. After a moment a short spark of electricity flies from his left hand to his right. "That was the most basic of raiton exercises, a simple spark of electricity. So i assume at some point you have experienced a small shock from static?" at his pupils nod Kakashi continues "This is exactly what i am doing here. Think of your chakra as being that electricity and don't try to control it too tightly, it will find the right path it needs to take. Practice until you can do that then we will move onto the next step"

He watches and his student once again nods before heading back to the other two. Arriving back at the first clearing he sees, and hears, Hinata playing her instrument once again. He stopped to think for a moment. Sasuke was easy to think of the next step but what about his other two students?

He could not show Hinata anything that fit into her current fighting style of mainly staying in the back with a bow and Naruto's swordsmanship was at least as refined as his was back when he still had one. After a bit of thinking he came up with a plan he headed out towards Naruto first.

"Alright Naruto you're up next" Naruto stopped swinging his sword and nodded following. Hinata smiled softly at him and he returned the gesture waving as he passed through the treeline after his teacher.

"Naruto, I just want to confirm, besides the academy ninjutsu do you know any other?"

The blonde shakes his head "No. Kima-nee-chan and Myrei didn't know any to teach us. Don't really need any though. The shinmei-ryu is all I need"

"Now that's a poor decision" Kakashi says "You should make use of any advantage you can get, even if it only gives you a tiny advantage, and with your chakra supply I can think of one ninjutsu that you could make great use of"

He had his students curiosity as he put his hands into a cross seal "Kage bunshin no jutsu" He calls out and a second person appears looking exactly like Kakashi.

"Another clone? I suck at clones!" He whines much to his teachers apparent amusement.

"This is not your ordinary clone" as both the Kakashi's lightly hit the side of Naruto's arm. Naruto looks back confused for a second before realization dawned on him. "Figured it out? Yup the Kage bunshin creates solid clones that can actually hurt people. The other thing to remember is that they can't take a hit, well more precisely they can take exactly one hit." Kakashi pulls out a small scroll and hands it over "I have no doubt that you will be able to figure it out"

Kakashi looks over one last time before he heads back over to his final student. Now he knew that he had no skills he could teach her but he could teach her about strategies to employ as a primary long ranged fighter himself. Well no talk so much as have her go over a scroll he had prepared while he found a place nearby to read his book. He had no doubt that his students could learn what he taught them.

* * *

The three genin head back to their hosts house. The two boys look exhausted, but not without anything to show for it. Naruto had managed to learn how to use the kage-bushin and while Sasuke was not finished the exercise he had been assigned, he had been able to start to feel the electricity forming.

Hinata was the only one who appeared fine as her training was more of a study than anything physical. Kakashi was quite happy at the rapid progress that the two boys had made. He was expecting the tasks he had given the two of them to take most of the week, not a few hours.

He helped them into the house and were greeted by the smell of cooking food "Welcome back" Tsunami, Tazuna's daughter, says as they enter the room "You're just in time for dinner"

The kids happily sit down around the table and only a few minutes later the food was served. It was certainly nothing extravagant, plain rice with some fish, but after training all day they were certainly thankful for it.

Tazuna was also sitting with them along with his grandson, Inari. Inari out of all of them at the table was sitting there looking as though the world had already ended. He slowly ate his food as he watched those kids laughing without a care in the world.

Sasuke looked over watching Naruto and his girlfriend. They were sitting together and the boy seemed to insist on feeding Hinata, much to her embarrassment, and the amusement of the adults. That only seemed to annoy the boy more than he already was. Inari decided he had enough, slamming his chopsticks onto the table and stormed off.

Naruto and Hinata look over at where he left, Naruto's chopsticks still in her mouth "What's his problem?"

"It's a long story" Tazuna says with a heavy sigh. "Sit down I'll share it with you"

With that Tazuna entered into his story about Inari's father and Gatou coming into the town to take over for his shipping business. He also explained why it was so impactful on the smaller boy.

"So that's what happened. It's why pretty much everyone has given up"

The leaf nin seemed to be a lot more subdued after hearing his story. Sasuke quietly finished eating and started to head off to bed "Not like it matters. We are still here to do our job"

"What do you mean it doesn't matter?" Naruto says annoyed

With a sigh Kakashi speaks up "Sasuke is right. It does not change our objective here. We are still here to defend our client like we were paid to do. That is what we need to focus on, not Inari"

Naruto frowns "I don't like that. Couldn't we help him?"

"We don't have the luxury of time. You three need to rest up and then get back to training in the morning" He speaks in an authoritative tone "Now head off to sleep after you finish eating"

"Hai!" the two remaining students say before finishing their food

"Oh where will you be sleeping?" Tsunami asks

"Huh? I'll be sleeping with Hina-chan" Naruto says as though it's the most obvious thing in the world.

"We can't have her sleeping with a boy can we?" She asks looking at Kakashi

"But we have been doing it for years" Naruto responds

"Really?" Tsunami replies

"We were sharing a room when we were training since we were three" Hinata explains

"Oh. Wait you have been training since you were three?" she responds surprised

"Yes, just after i was kidnapped" She says with a slight smiles

"Oh, okay then…" Tsunami says, unsure of how exactly to respond to that.

"Don't worry about them" Kakashi speaks up seemingly amused at the conversation "They are responsible enough" With that the two of them headed off to go to sleep.

"Well I guess i will be off as well" Kakashi says and heads off to sleep, slower than the rest due to his injuries.

* * *

"Is it really so odd that we share a room?" Naruto asks as he takes his shirt off and places Balmung beside his bed.

"I think it is for most people" Hinata responds as she grabs her own change of clothes from her bag. She starts to take off her own clothes changing into her sleeping clothes "I'm changing"

That is all she needed to say, she trusted Naruto enough to know that he would not sneak a peek at her changing, and she was right. Despite dating for a few years now they had never done more than kiss, not too surprising when you considered their age.

"Finished" she announced and Naruto finally turned around smiling at her, which she happily returned. "We should get to bed, we still have training"

"Says you, all you're doing is reading" Naruto says with a small pout making Hinata giggle at him

"Doesn't mean we don't need sleep" She insists going to lay down on her sleeping bag before the blonde gently grabs her wrist pulling her in close

He lays a gentle kiss on her lips which he holds for a few seconds "Goodnight hime" he whispers pulling away leaving the girl blushing.

"Goodnight Naruto" she responds in a light voice before they lay down to go to sleep.

* * *

Haku was looking around the early morning looking for the necessary herbs for Zabuza. She soon noticed something that was not normally around, well someone. A person was laying against a nearby tree. Upon closer inspection she recognised him as one of the genin from the fight the other day. In an instant she had senbon in her hands between her fingers, slipped down from her sleeve, a motion from practice that had her armed in a moment. She slowly made her way closer bringing her needles to bare as she gets close.

As she got a good look at the black haired boy resting against the tree. She soon kneeled beside the boy bringing her needles up before pausing and looking closer. He could not be any older than she was. After a moment of thought she decided against killing him. He would not be that great a threat and with Zabuza still unable to move it would put him at risk.

Sighing slightly she shakes his shoulder "Wake up. You might catch a cold"

Sasuke's hand reflexively went to the holder at the side of his leg to grab a kunai but he stopped himself from attacking once his eyes opened and he actually got a good look at the situation. He stands up and notices the girl in a kimono he had startled into falling on her ass from his hasty action when she woke him. Sighing he reaches out a hand to help the girl up.

"Thank you" she replies cheerfully despite just having been on the ground. "So if you don't mind what are you doing here?"

Sasuke looks at her before sitting back onto the ground and holding his pointer finger and thumb together on both hands making a large circle. "Training" Was his simple one word reply as he started focusing on his hands.

"You are a ninja correct?" the girls asks looking at him.

Deciding that she did not plan to leave he decided to answer her "Hn" was his simple reply with a nod.

"Why?" she asks "Is there a reason you fight?"

"To get stronger" He says his voice taking a slightly darker tone.

"You look plenty strong already" She comments

"I'm nowhere near strong enough" he says as he moved his hands apart a circle of electricity kept going between the now separate fingers.

Haku picked up a few more herbs looking back at him "Do you have any precious people? People are strongest when they are protecting someone precious to them"

Those words immediately struck a chord with Sasuke as his focus shattered and his electric paths broke. Haku could see the rage in his eyes and gulped, knowing she had said the wrong thing. The anger that came from his next sentence sent chills down her spine "All my precious people were stolen from me, and i will destroy the one who took them from me!"


End file.
